Brigham Young University

ALPACA: ADVANCED CRYOGENIC L-BAND PHASED ARRAY CAMERA FOR THE ARECIBO RADIO TELESCOPE

MULTIPLEXED, NON-AMPLIFIED, NUCLEIC ACID-BASED IDENTIFICATION OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANT PATHOGENS USING AN INTEGRATED OPTOFLUIDIC PLATFORM

PHYSIOLOGICAL ROLE OF PHOSDUCINS IN THE RETINA

NEW AWARD: TESTING AND MODEL -BASED OPTIMIZATION OF COAL-FIRED PRIMARY HEATER DESIGN FOR INDIRECT SUPERCRITICAL CO2 POWER CYCLES

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF PATHOGENESIS-ASSOCIATED BACTERIAL STRUCTURES BY ELECTRON CRYOTOMOGRAPHY

BRIDGING DIVIDES: A NATIONAL CIVIL DISCOURSE INITIATIVE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE RESILIENCE AND RISK PEDIGREES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CI-WATER, CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE TO ADVANCE HIGH PERFORMANCE WATER RESOURCE MODELING

ANALYSIS OF UPPER ATMOSPHERE COMPOSITION USING CLOSED-SOURCE NEUTRAL MASS SPECTROMETERS (E.G. CASSINI INMS MAVEN NGIMS) IS SUBJECT TO ERROR DUE TO CH

BIOCHEMICAL CONSEQUENCES OF REGIOSPECIFIC METABOLIC BIAS IN THE BRAIN

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE IN NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS: SAMPLE ACQUISITION AND WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING - PROJECT SUMMARY ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE (AD) IS AMONG THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL CHALLENGES OF OUR DAY. APPROXIMATELY 7 MILLION AMERICANS ARE LIVING WITH AD, AND WITHOUT EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS, THE NUMBER WILL DOUBLE IN THE NEXT 25 YEARS. HOMOGENOUS DATASETS LIMIT THE CLINICAL UTILITY OF DISCOVERIES, POSSIBLY LEADING TO RACE-BASED DISPARITIES IN THERAPEUTICS AND DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS. ALMOST ALL AD RESEARCH DATA WERE DERIVED FROM MAJORITY-WHITE POPULATIONS IN HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES. NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS (NHPIS) HAVE EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH RISK. YET, DESPITE BEING THE SECOND FASTEST-GROWING RACIAL MINORITY GROUP, NHPIS ARE THE LEAST REPRESENTED RACIAL MINORITY GROUP IN LARGE REPOSITORIES/DATASETS. THE ADSP WAS INITIATED, IN PART, TO SOLVE THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF AD. WHILE LIMITED DATA EXIST, AVAILABLE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF AD IN NHPIS IS UNIQUE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE APOE SNPS ARE NOT CORRELATED WITH AD IN CHAMORROS OR POLYNESIANS. WE PLAN TO DO THE FOLLOWING. AIM 1. RECRUIT AND COLLECT DATA FROM 5,000 NHPIS. WE WILL RECRUIT 1,000 NHPIS ANNUALLY THROUGH OUR NETWORK OF CONNECTIONS, INCLUDING COMMUNITY AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS, SOCIAL MEDIA, RADIO, TV, PERSONAL CONNECTIONS, AND WORD OF MOUTH. EACH PARTICIPANT WILL COMPLETE THOROUGH HEALTH, MEDICAL, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH, DIET, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND DEMOGRAPHICS SURVEYS; A NEUROPHYSICAL EXAM; PROVIDE A BLOOD SAMPLE; AND AD TESTING. WE WILL COLLECT WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCES, SNP ARRAY DATA, AND STANDARD LABORATORY ASSAYS FOR EACH PARTICIPANT. AIM 2. PARTICIPANT DIAGNOSIS. EACH PARTICIPANT WILL BE DIAGNOSED USING THE NACC BATTERY AND ADJUDICATED FOLLOWING THE PROTOCOLS ESTABLISHED BY ACAD WITH MINOR ADAPTATIONS TO MAKE THE ASSESSMENTS CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE FOR NHPIS. AIM 3. GENETIC ANALYSES. WE WILL DESCRIBE NHPI GENETICS (E.G., ESTIMATE SNP FREQUENCIES IN NHPIS), ANALYZE NHPI POPULATION STRUCTURE, AND CONDUCT THE FIRST AD GWAS IN NHPIS.

DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDE MIMICS

PHASE-CHANGING SACRIFICIAL LAYER MICROFLUIDICS FOR ENHANCED PROTEIN ANALYSIS

EFRI-ODISSEI: UNITING PRINCIPLES OF FOLDING AND COMPLIANT MECHANISMS TO CREATE ENGINEERING SYSTEMS WITH UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCE

CYBERCORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE: BUILDING RESEARCH-MINDED CYBER LEADERS -THIS PROJECT WILL ESTABLISH A NEW CYBERCORPS? SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (BYU). OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT 23 UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS STUDYING CYBERSECURITY. THESE FUTURE CYBER LEADERS WILL ENTER THE GOVERNMENT WORKFORCE WITH A STRONG GROUNDING IN CYBERSECURITY'S TECHNICAL AND HUMAN DIMENSIONS. SFS UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS WILL HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN FACULTY-MENTORED RESEARCH, BYU?S SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTER (SOC), A NEW CYBERCLINIC, CYBERSECURITY AND NETWORKING CLUBS, COMPETITIONS, CAREER FAIRS, GOVERNMENT INTERNSHIPS, AND OUTREACH EFFORTS. IN ADDITION, THIS PROJECT WILL ENABLE STRATEGIC ENHANCEMENTS AT BYU DESIGNED TO INCREASE THE CYBERSECURITY STUDENT DIVERSITY PROFILE, BUILD A STRONG COMMUNITY AMONG SFS STUDENTS, AND PROMOTE STUDENT RESEARCH. THIS WILL, IN TURN, PROVIDE THE GOVERNMENT WITH AN INCREASINGLY DIVERSE SET OF CAPABLE, WELL-CONNECTED GRADUATES READY TO SOLVE THE CYBERSECURITY CHALLENGES OF TODAY AND THE FUTURE. THE BYU SFS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS TO BECOME ETHICAL CYBER LEADERS IN GOVERNMENT, RAISE THE VISIBILITY OF CYBERSECURITY PROGRAMS AND OPPORTUNITIES AT BYU, AND FURTHER DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. THE PROJECT WILL SUPPORT AN SFS STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, A GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY CAREER EVENT TIED TO BYU?S STEM FAIR, AND NEW DIVERSITY OUTREACH EFFORTS THAT WILL BETTER INTEGRATE EFFORTS ACROSS CAMPUS (E.G., BYU ENGINEERING BE TOGETHER, WOMEN IN CYBERSECURITY CLUB, CS BELONGING, WOMEN IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, BYU MULTICULTURAL STUDENT SERVICES) AND THE COMMUNITY TO RECRUIT MORE WOMEN, MINORITIES, AND FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS INTO THE FIELD. A NEW CYBERSECURITY SFS SEMINAR WILL HELP BUILD A COMMUNITY AMONG SFS STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND BRING IN EXPERTS FROM OTHER UNIVERSITIES AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN RESEARCH WILL WORK WITH FACULTY STUDYING HIGH-PRIORITY AREAS, INCLUDING AI AND CYBERSECURITY, HUMAN ASPECTS OF CYBERSECURITY, EMBEDDED SYSTEMS SECURITY, NETWORK SECURITY, AND CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION. GRADUATE SFS STUDENTS WILL COMPLETE A RIGOROUS THESIS CENTERED AROUND A CYBERSECURITY TOPIC, HELPING PREPARE THEM FOR CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH WITHIN GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS. THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE CYBERCORPS? SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM, WHICH FUNDS PROPOSALS ESTABLISHING OR CONTINUING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS IN CYBERSECURITY AND ALIGNS WITH THE U.S. NATIONAL CYBER STRATEGY TO DEVELOP A SUPERIOR CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE. FOLLOWING GRADUATION, SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WORK IN CYBERSECURITY FOR A FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION FOR THE SAME DURATION AS THEIR SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

I/UCRC: CENTER FOR UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS, PHASE II SITE

NICOTINE AND ALCOHOL CO-DEPENDENCE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

IRON BASED COUPLING MEDIA (IBCM) FOR MRI-GUIDED TRANSCRANIAL ULTRASOUND SURGERIES - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT FATAL OR IMPAIRING NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES, INCLUDING MOVEMENT DISORDERS, BRAIN CANCERS, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS, EPILEPSIES, MALFORMATIONS, AND MEMORY DISORDERS, IMPOSE HEAVY BURDENS ON BOTH INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETY AT LARGE. TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE GUIDED FOCUSED ULTRASOUND SURGERY (TMRGFUS) IS AN EXTREMELY PROMISING, MINIMALLY INVASIVE TREATMENT MODALITY FOR NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES WHEREBY SOUND WAVES ARE FOCUSED TO A SPECIFIC REGION OF THE BRAIN. BECAUSE IT IS NONINVASIVE, THE EFFICACY OF TMRGFUS PROCEDURE HEAVILY RELIES ON THE ACCURACY AND INFORMATION CONTENT OF THE GUIDANCE TECHNOLOGY. THIS STUDY PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE TREATMENT EFFICACY OF NEARLY ALL TMRGFUS SURGERIES BY ELIMINATING A UBIQUITOUS IMPEDIMENT TO ACCURATE AND INFORMATION-RICH GUIDANCE MRI: THE ACOUSTIC COUPLING MEDIUM. INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE COUPLING MEDIA AND GUIDANCE IMAGING IMPEDE TMRGFUS EFFICACY AND TRANSLATION. FOR EXAMPLE, WHILE FDA-APPROVED TMRGFUS TREATMENTS FOR ESSENTIAL TREMOR AND PARKINSON’S DISEASE CAN RELY ON REAL-TIME PATIENT FEEDBACK TO COMPENSATE FOR ERRORS IN GUIDANCE MR IMAGING, OTHER TMRGFUS INDICATIONS CANNOT ACCESS PATIENT FEEDBACK BECAUSE EITHER THE PATIENT IS UNCONSCIOUS, OR THE CONSEQUENCES OF TREATMENT ERRORS APPEAR ONLY DAYS LATER. IN THESE CASES, GUIDANCE IMAGING ERRORS IMPOSED BY THE COUPLING BATH CANNOT BE COMPENSATED AND DEGRADE TREATMENT EFFICACY TO MEET THIS NEED, OUR STUDY PROPOSES A DILUTE, IRON-BASED COUPLING MEDIA (IBCM) THAT WILL ELIMINATE COUPLING- MEDIA-INDUCED ERRORS IN MRI GUIDANCE IMAGING WHILE MAINTAINING THE COUPLING AND COOLING FUNCTIONALITY CRITICAL TO ACOUSTIC TRANSMISSION. THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THE STUDY ARE AS FOLLOWS. AIM 1: DEVELOP NOVEL SURFACE–MODIFIED IRON OXIDE NANOPARTICLES FOR AN IBCM. DILUTE, AQUEOUS, SURFACE- MODIFIED IRON OXIDE NANOPARTICLES CAN ACCELERATE MRI SIGNAL DECAY SUCH THAT, DURING IMAGE ACQUISITION, A COUPLING MEDIUM WILL CONTRIBUTE NEGLIGIBLE EFFECTS TO GUIDANCE IMAGING. HOWEVER, AQUEOUS NANOPARTICLES ALSO AGGLOMERATE AND SEED TREATMENT-IMPEDING CAVITATION NUCLEATION IN THE PREFOCAL ACOUSTIC FIELD. THIS AIM WILL DEVELOP NOVEL SURFACE-MODIFIED PARTICLES THAT, UPON SUSPENSION, ACCELERATE MRI SIGNAL DECAY WITHOUT PROMOTING PREFOCAL NUCLEATION. AIM 2: INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF IBCM SUSPENSION FLUID PROPERTIES ON CAVITATION NUCLEATION. FLUID PROPERTIES PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN PARTICLE SUSPENSION, ACOUSTIC COUPLING, SUBJECT COOLING, AND CAVITATION NUCLEATION. THIS AIM WILL INVESTIGATE CAVITATION NUCLEATION WITHIN THE IBCM AND HOW SUSPENSION FLUID PROPERTIES, SUCH AS PH, TEMPERATURE, GAS CONTENT, AND FLOW STATE, CAN MODIFY OR SUPPRESS THE NUCLEATION PROCESS WHILE MAINTAINING SUSPENSION, COUPLING, AND COOLING CAPABILITIES. AIM 3: ENHANCE MRI GUIDANCE FOR TMRGFUS THROUGH THE USE OF AN IBCM. THIS AIM WILL QUANTIFY THE VALUE OF THE IBCM DESIGNED IN AIMS 1 AND 2 FOR TMRGFUS BY MEASURING IMAGE QUALITY METRICS DERIVED FROM GUIDANCE MRI SCANS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS. THIS AIM WILL ALSO DEVELOP NOVEL MRI GUIDANCE TECHNIQUES THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY RENDERED IMPOSSIBLE DUE TO SEVERE IMAGE CORRUPTIONS IMPOSED BY THE ACOUSTIC COUPLING MEDIUM. THE RESULTING IBCM WILL IMPROVE IMAGE QUALITY FOR NEARLY ALL GUIDANCE TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED DURING, OR UNDERGOING DEVELOPMENT FOR, TMRGFUS, BY RENDERING THE ACOUSTIC COUPLING MEDIUM INVISIBLE TO THE MRI SCANNER WITHOUT SACRIFICING NECESSARY ACOUSTIC COUPLING AND COOLING FUNCTIONALITY.

I/UCRC PHASE I: CENTER FOR UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

CENTERS FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION - CENTERS FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION

COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF CRYOGENIC GRAIN BOUNDARY MOTION FOR ENHANCED MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

ENHANCED SENSITIVITY AND QUANTITATIVE PRECISION FOR SINGLE CELL PROTEOMICS - SINGLE CELL PROTEOMICS (SCP) IS RAPIDLY EMERGING AND CAN QUANTIFY > 1000 PROTEINS PER CELL. SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN INSTRUMENTATION AND SAMPLE PREPARATION ARE MAKING SCP MORE BROADLY ACCESSIBLE. YET TECHNICAL ADVANCES IN DATA ACQUISITION HAVE NOT BEEN PAIRED WITH ADVANCES TO COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS. ALGORITHMS FOR PROTEOMICS WERE DESIGNED AND OPTIMIZED ON DATA FROM BULK PROTEOMICS, AND ARE ILL-SUITED FOR SCP DATA. OUR PRELIMINARY RESEARCH SHOWS THAT DATA FROM SCP LACK MANY FEATURES THAT ARE CRITICAL FOR CURRENT PROTEOMICS ALGORITHMS. WE WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE ACCURACY AND COVERAGE OF THE SINGLE CELL PROTEOME THROUGH CREATION OF THE FIRST-EVER DEDICATED SCP SEARCH SOFTWARE. THIS WILL BE COUPLED WITH AN INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE SCP PEPTIDE AND PROTEIN QUANTIFICATION. THESE ALGORITHMIC IMPROVEMENTS WILL BE INFORMED FROM A LARGE CORPUS OF SCP DATA, GATHERED AND CENTRALIZED INTO THE FIRST SCP DATA ARCHIVE.

ASSESSING THE INFLUENCE OF SPACE LAUNCH AND LANDING NOISE ON SPECIES OF CONCERN AT VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE.

TAS::89 0309::TAS SOLIDS IDENTIFICATION USING HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY (PDP10-08)

ADVANCED SAMPLE PREPARATION, SEPARATION AND MULTIPLEXED ANALYSIS FOR IN-DEPTH PROTEOME PROFILING OF >1000 SINGLE CELLS PER DAY - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT CANCER TISSUES EXHIBIT A HIGH DEGREE OF PHENOTYPIC HETEROGENEITY AND PLASTICITY AND CONTAIN NUMEROUS SUBPOPULATIONS OF CELLS IN VARIOUS STATES. QUANTIFYING THIS HETEROGENEITY AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL AND WITH MOLECULAR DEPTH ACROSS LARGE NUMBERS OF CELLS PROVIDES INFORMATION THAT CANNOT BE OBTAINED AT THE BULK SCALE AND WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD TO IMPROVED DIAGNOSTICS AND MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. WHILE SINGLE-CELL NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING APPROACHES ARE HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON CANCER RESEARCH, PROTEINS MEDIATE THE BULK OF CELLULAR FUNCTION AND ARE THE TARGETS OF MOST THERAPEUTICS. THERE IS THUS AN URGENT NEED TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR LARGE- SCALE DIRECT PROTEOME PROFILING AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL. TO FILL THIS GAP, MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS)-BASED PROFILING OF PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN SINGLE CELLS HAS RECENTLY BEEN DEMONSTRATED THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MORE EFFICIENT SAMPLE PROCESSING WORKFLOWS, NOVEL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS AND IMPROVED INSTRUMENT SENSITIVITY. LABEL-FREE MS- BASED PROTEOMICS CAN NOW QUANTIFY >2,000 PROTEIN GROUPS PER CELL ACROSS >4 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE OF DYNAMIC RANGE, BUT EFFORTS TO PROFILE MORE THAN A FEW DOZEN CELLS PER DAY HAVE RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED PROTEOME COVERAGE. THIS LOW THROUGHPUT IS INSUFFICIENT FOR THE LARGE-SCALE STATISTICALLY POWERED STUDIES REQUIRED TO CHARACTERIZE HETEROGENEITY IN CANCER CELL POPULATIONS. TO INCREASE MEASUREMENT THROUGHPUT, MULTIPLEXED WORKFLOWS BASED ON ISOBARIC TANDEM MASS TAGS (TMTS) ENABLE UP TO 18 SINGLE CELLS TO BE MEASURED IN AN LC- MS ANALYSIS, BUT THESE HAVE STILL BEEN LIMITED TO ~100 CELLS/DAY AND, AS GENERALLY IMPLEMENTED, SUFFER FROM A LARGE PROPORTION OF MISSING VALUES AND OTHER ISSUES AFFECTING QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE. OUR OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A PLATFORM THAT COMBINES SIMPLIFIED PIPETTE-FREE HIGH-THROUGHPUT SAMPLE PREPARATION WITH RAPID, MULTICOLUMN LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY SEPARATIONS AND ‘GREEDY’ DATA-DEPENDENT ACQUISITION TO PROFILE >2000 PROTEINS PER CELL WITH A MEASUREMENT THROUGHPUT OF >1000 SINGLE CELLS PER DAY. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT THE ADVANCED SAMPLE PREPARATION AND SEPARATION, COMBINED WITH A FAR MORE EFFICIENT MS ACQUISITION WORKFLOW, WILL ACHIEVE IN-DEPTH SCP WITH A 10× THROUGHPUT GAIN, THUS PROVIDING A CAPABILITY FOR DIRECT, IN-DEPTH AND LARGE-SCALE PROTEIN QUANTIFICATION THAT IS ANALOGOUS TO SINGLE-CELL RNA-SEQ. STUDIES IN AIM 1 WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING MASSIVELY PARALLEL CENTRIFUGAL NANOLITER DISPENSING TO PREPARE >10,000 SINGLE-CELLS PER DAY AT A TOTAL REAGENT AND CONSUMABLES COST OF <$0.40/CELL. IN AIM 2, WE WILL DEVELOP RAPID, ROBUST AND HIGH-PEAK-CAPACITY 20-MIN NANOLC SEPARATIONS WITH 100% DUTY CYCLE. IN AIM 3, WE WILL DEVELOP A NOVEL ‘GREEDY’ DATA ACQUISITION STRATEGY IN WHICH ONLY PROTEOTYPIC PEPTIDES ARE SELECTED FOR FRAGMENTATION, AND WITH CUSTOM AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL SETTINGS AND FRAGMENTATION ENERGY FOR EACH PEPTIDE, PROVIDING AN UNPRECEDENTED COMBINATION OF SENSITIVITY AND THROUGHPUT. WITH THIS NEXT-GENERATION PLATFORM, WE WILL PROFILE >10,000 CELLS TO STUDY ACQUIRED RESISTANCE TO AUTOPHAGY INHIBITORS IN THE CONTEXT OF AUTOPHAGY-DEPENDENT TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER, THUS ESTABLISHING AN INNOVATIVE PLATFORM FOR ADVANCING BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND INDIVIDUALIZING THERAPY.

FULLY AUTOMATED AND ULTRA-HIGH-THROUGHPUT PLATFORM FOR IN-DEPTH SINGLE-CELL PROTEOMICS

SEQUENCE RESOURCES FOR COTTON, A MODEL SYSTEM FOR ALLOPOLYPLOID CROPS

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

STRUCTURAL VARIATION OF DIPLOID AND POLYPLOID PLANT GENOMES

PLEIOTROPIC AND INTERACTION EFFECTS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RISK AND PROGRESSION

DEVELOPING THE PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS AND SCIENCE EXPERTISE OF TEACHERS IN UNDERSERVED RURAL SETTINGS

NEUROPLASTICITY WITH ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE

A REGIONAL EXPERIMENT TO EVALUATE EFFECTS OF FIRE AND FIRE SURROGATE TREATMENTS IN THE SAGEBRUSH...

AREA A: IN-DEPTH PROTEOME MAPPING OF THE TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT WITH SINGLE-CELL RESOLUTION

NONPARAMETRIC BAYESIAN APPROACHES TO MODELING PROTEIN STRUCTURE

BULKY DEHYDROAMINO ACIDS AS CONSTRAINING AND STABILIZING COMPONENTS OF PEPTIDES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DESIGNING A TEACHER LEARNING SEQUENCE FOR BUILDING ON MATHEMATICAL OPPORTUNITIES IN STUDENT THINKING -MATHEMATICAL OPPORTUNITIES IN STUDENT THINKING (MOSTS) ARE HIGH-LEVERAGE INSTANCES OF STUDENT MATHEMATICAL THINKING THAT EMERGE IN WHOLE-CLASS DISCUSSIONS. THE CHALLENGE FOR TEACHERS IS TO BUILD ON THESE OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP THE WHOLE CLASS UNDERSTAND THE MATHEMATICS UNDERLYING THESE STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS. TO HELP TEACHERS LEARN HOW TO BUILD ON MOSTS, THERE IS A NEED FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES AND TOOLS THAT FACILITATORS CAN USE. THERE IS ALSO A NEED FOR RESEARCH ABOUT HOW TEACHERS USE WHAT THEY LEARN IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THEIR TEACHING. THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING A TEACHER LEARNING SEQUENCE THAT WILL SUPPORT TEACHERS IN LEARNING TO PRODUCTIVELY USE STUDENT THINKING THAT SURFACES IN-THE-MOMENT DURING THEIR INSTRUCTION?THAT IS, IN LEARNING TO BUILD ON MOSTS. THIS PROJECT BUILDS ON PRIOR WORK THAT DEVELOPED A FRAMEWORK FOR RECOGNIZING MOSTS AND CONCEPTUALIZED THE BUILDING PRACTICE TEACHERS USE TO EFFECTIVELY CAPITALIZE ON MOSTS. THE OVERARCHING RESEARCH QUESTION FOR THE PROJECT IS: TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SEQUENCE HELP TEACHERS UNDERSTAND AND ENACT THE TEACHING PRACTICE OF BUILDING? AS PART OF THIS INVESTIGATION, THE PROJECT ALSO CONSIDERS FACTORS THAT MIGHT MITIGATE TEACHERS? LEARNING, SUCH AS TEACHER ATTRIBUTES (KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES, OR EXPERIENCES) AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS. THE STUDY USES A DESIGN RESEARCH FRAMEWORK TO DOCUMENT HOW TEACHERS TAKE UP ASPECTS OF BUILDING ON MOSTS FROM THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE PROCESS OF TEACHERS? LEARNING, AND CHANGES IN THEIR CLASSROOM PRACTICE. THE STUDY RELIES ON DATA FROM THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES, TEACHER SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSROOM DATA. THE PROJECT SITES INCLUDE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS. THE DISCOVERY RESEARCH PREK-12 PROGRAM (DRK-12) IS AN APPLIED RESEARCH PROGRAM THAT SEEKS TO SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) BY PREK-12 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS. PROJECTS IN THE DRK-12 PROGRAM BUILD ON FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH IN STEM EDUCATION AND PRIOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS THAT PROVIDE THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR FUNDED PROJECTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF YEAST PAS KINASE REGULATION AND FUNCTION.

ENERGETICS OF NANOMATERIALS

LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTERS - LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTERS

MCTP: CENTER FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN MATHEMATICS

HIGH DENSITY 3D PRINTED MICROFLUIDICS WITH OPEN SOURCE RESINS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES SUPPORTING THE CREATION OF HIGH INTEGRITY WELDMENTS VIA THE FRICTION STIR PROCESS

FULL-SCALE DEVELOPMENT: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ADVANCING INFORMAL STEM LEARNING THROUGH SCIENTIFIC ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING PRODUCTIVE USE OF HIGH-LEVERAGE STUDENT MATHEMATICAL THINKING

IMPACT AND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF SELECTED SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN ORNAMENTAL CROP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

WEARABLE NANOCOMPOSITE SENSOR SYSTEM FOR DIAGNOSING MECHANICAL SOURCES OF LOW BACK PAIN AND GUIDING REHABILITATION - PROJECT SUMMARY BACK PAIN HAS GAINED THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE MOST DISABLING CONDITION IN THE WORLD [1-3], AFFECTING 80-90% OF THE US POPULATION AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIFETIME, WITH 29% OF THE US POPULATION HAVING EXPERIENCED LOWER BACK PAIN WITHIN THE LAST 3 MONTHS. BACK AND NECK PAIN ARE THE LEADING CAUSE OF MISSED WORK DAYS AND RANK SECOND ONLY TO THE COMMON COLD AS A REASON FOR A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR, ACCOUNTING FOR APPROXIMATELY 30% OF GENERAL PRACTITIONER VISITS. OF PARTICULAR CONCERN IS CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN (CLBP), WHICH IS RECURRENT AND OFTEN NON-RESPONSIVE TO CONSERVATIVE TREATMENTS. IT HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED THAT SPINAL PATHOLOGY CHANGES THE WAY THAT WE MOVE. BIOMECHANISTS, PHYSICAL THERAPISTS, AND SURGEONS EACH UTILIZE A VARIETY OF TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO ASSESS AND INTERPRET QUALITATIVE MOVEMENT CHANGES AS A WINDOW TO UNDERSTANDING POTENTIAL MECHANICAL AND NEUROLOGICAL SOURCES OF LOW BACK PAIN AND AS A CRITICAL ELEMENT IN THEIR TREATMENT PARADIGM. HOWEVER, OBJECTIVELY CHARACTERIZING AND COMMUNICATING THIS INFORMATION IS CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE, SINCE CLINICALLY FEASIBLE (E.G., COST-EFFECTIVE, OBJECTIVE, AND ACCURATE) TOOLS AND QUANTITATIVE BENCHMARKS DO NOT EXIST. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE CHALLENGE TO IMPROVE CLBP OUTCOMES THROUGH THE USE OF UNIQUE, INEXPENSIVE, SCREEN-PRINTABLE, ELASTOMER-BASED NANO-COMPOSITE PIEZORESPONSIVE SENSORS WHICH WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO A SPINAL NANOSENSOR ENVIRONMENT (SPINE SENSE SYSTEM) TO MEASURE LUMBAR KINEMATICS AND PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE, QUANTITATIVE PLATFORM FOR DIAGNOSIS, MONITORING, AND FOLLOW-UP ASSESSMENT OF CLBP.

PHASE I IUCRC BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY: CENTER FOR SPACE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE, AND RESILIENT COMPUTING (SHREC)

ADVANCING THE NASA GEOGLOWS TOOLBOX FOR REGIONAL WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT

INTBIO: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SILK PROTEIN INNOVATION AND NOVELTY (SPIN) : INTEGRATING ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO DECIPHER SILK FIBER EVOLUTION -SILK IS ONE OF NATURE?S STRONGEST AND LIGHTEST BIOMATERIALS. IT IS USED BY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SPECIES FOR AN ARRAY OF APPLICATIONS. YET, OUTSIDE OF A FEW SPECIES, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE GENOMIC BASIS AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL SILKS. THIS PROJECT TAKES AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO EXAMINE THE MOLECULAR, DEVELOPMENTAL, AND FUNCTIONAL BASIS OF SILK ACROSS A DIVERSITY OF USES. AN INTEGRATIVE TEAM OF NATURAL HISTORIANS, MOLECULAR BIOLOGISTS, DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGISTS, AND BIOENGINEERS ARE COMBINING THEIR EXPERTISE TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO HOW NATURE SHAPES SILK FIBER FUNCTION. THIS RESEARCH IS FOUNDATIONAL TO ENGINEERING NEW MATERIALS THAT CAN APPLIED TO MANY PRODUCTS, FROM SURGICAL ADHESIVES TO SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, MULTIPLE POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS AND GRADUATE STUDENTS GAIN INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING IN GENOMICS, GENE EDITING, AND ENGINEERING. FURTHERMORE, THIS PROJECT CREATES A TRAVELING MUSEUM EXHIBIT TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF SILK. SILK HAS BEEN SHAPED AND RE-ADAPTED FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY DIVERSITY OF USES ACROSS MULTIPLE DISTANTLY RELATED ARTHROPOD GROUPS AND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS OF EVOLUTION. TO DATE, SILK RESEARCH IN INSECTS HAS FOCUSED LARGELY ON FIBERS FROM THE DOMESTICATED SILKWORM MOTH, BOMBYX MORI. THIS PROJECT USES A COMPARATIVE, MULTI-TIERED APPROACH TO STUDY SILKS OF THE MOST DOMINANT CLADE OF SILK-PRODUCING INSECTS, THE CADDISFLIES AND MOTHS. THE COMBINATION OF GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS, FUNCTIONAL GENETICS, AND BIOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS WILL ILLUMINATE HOW SILKS ADHERE TO UNDERWATER SUBSTRATES, HOW THEY CONSOLIDATE INTO AN INSOLUBLE FIBER, AND HELP UNDERSTAND THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF THEIR MECHANICAL PROPERTIES. EVOLUTIONARY CORRELATIONS ARE WOVEN BETWEEN GENOTYPES AND PHENOTYPES AND DIRECT TESTS OF CAUSALITY ARE CONDUCTED IN STRATEGICALLY CHOSEN FOCAL SPECIES THAT ARE AMENABLE TO GENETIC MODIFICATION. OVERALL, THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE OVERARCHING QUESTION, ?HOW DOES NATURE SHAPE SILK FIBER FUNCTION?? WITH A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR A FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGICAL SUPERSTRUCTURE THAT HAS UNTAPPED POTENTIAL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF NEW POLYMER-BASED BIOMATERIALS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

2018-2022 CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION GRANT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: QUANTIFYING CLIMATE-FORCED EXTINCTION RISKS FOR LIZARDS, AMPHIBIANS, FISHES, AND PLANTS

CHS: MEDIUM: DESIGN TOOLS FOR PHYSICAL COMPUTING OBJECTS

DEVELOPMENT OF ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES FOR A PRESSURIZED DRY FEED OXY-COAL REACTOR

CENTERS FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION

3D-PRINTED INTEGRATED MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES FOR PRETERM BIRTH BIOMARKER ANALYSIS

NIRT:CHEMICALLY DIRECTED SURFACE ALIGNMENT AND WIRING OF SELF-ASSEMBLED NANOELECTRICAL CIRCUITS

THE CAUSES OF GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER MICROBIOTA COMPOSITION

HELPING PRODUCERS IMPROVE WILDLIFE HABITAT WITH INNOVATIVE SED COATING TECHNOLOGIES

ION SAMPLING AND TRANSPORT IN PLASMA SOURCE MASS SPECTROMETERS

MRI: DEVELOPMENT OF A LOCAL AIR TRAFFIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (LATIS) FOR UAS COLLISION AVOIDANCE RESEARCH

MRI: ACQUISITION OF THE LANGUAGELENS FOR LARGE-SCALE LANGUAGE MODELING -MACHINE LEARNING IS REVOLUTIONIZING MANY PARTS OF SOCIETY, BUT TRAINING THE VERY BEST MODELS REQUIRES TREMENDOUS COMPUTING RESOURCES THAT ARE OFTEN OUT OF REACH FOR ACADEMIC GROUPS. THIS PROJECT THEREFORE ACQUIRES A SPECIAL-PURPOSE INSTRUMENT, NAMED THE LANGUAGELENS, THAT IS DESIGNED TO PROCESS VAST AMOUNTS OF NATURAL LANGUAGE TEXT. THE LANGUAGELENS WILL SUPPORT RESEARCH IN NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING, DEEP LEARNING, COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS, CRISIS INFORMATICS, CONVERSATIONAL AI, NEURAL MACHINE TRANSLATION, AND LEGAL CORPUS LINGUISTICS, AND WILL ENABLE ACADEMIC RESEARCH TO ADVANCE BOTH THE MACHINE LEARNING NEEDED TO TRAIN LARGE MODELS, AS WELL AS SOCIETIALLY RELEVANT APPLICATIONS OF THOSE MODELS. THE LANGUAGELENS IS A HIGH-PERFORMANCE GPU CLUSTER THAT BALANCES COMPUTE, STORAGE AND INTERNODE COMMUNICATION TO SUPPORT A VARIETY OF DEMANDING NLP-BASED WORKLOADS. THE LANGUAGELENS WILL BE FOCUSED ON SOLVING RESEARCH PROJECTS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL, INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPACT ACROSS A WIDE VARIETY OF FIELDS. A KEY AREA OF FOCUS FOR THE INSTRUMENT IS THE ABILITY TO TRAIN NEW LARGE-SCALE LANGUAGE MODELS AND TO EXAMINE THEIR INNER WORKINGS IN REAL-TIME. LANGUAGE MODELS WILL BE TRAINED WITH SPECIFIC DOWNSTREAM APPLICATIONS IN MIND, ON NOVEL CORPORA AS WELL AS WITH NOVEL NEURO-SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURES, TO HELP DERIVE INSIGHT FROM THE RESULTING WEIGHTS. THE LANGUAGELENS WILL PRIORITIZE SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH THAT ADDRESSES PRESSING SOCIETAL PROBLEMS. IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE AUTHENTIC WORKFORCE TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS: AS THE RESOURCE GAP BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA GROWS, IT IS INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO GIVE THEM OPPORTUNITIES TO PURSUE HIGH-IMPACT RESEARCH THAT INVOLVES HUGE MODELS AND DATASETS. FINALLY, AS MANY COMPANIES REFUSE TO RELEASE THE PRETRAINED WEIGHTS OF THEIR MODELS, A CENTRAL GOAL IS TO MAKE TRAINED WEIGHTS FREELY AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE, SUBJECT TO ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS, TO DRIVE NATIONAL IMPACT FOR BOTH INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA. PROJECT RESOURCES SUCH AS CODE, PUBLICATIONS, DATASETS AND PRETRAINED MODELS WILL BE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE LANGUAGELENS WEBSITE AT HTTPS://LL.CS.BYU.EDU/. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES FELLOWSHIPS

THRIVING IN A DIGITAL WORLD: EXAMINING TRAJECTORIES OF HEALTHY AND PROBLEMATIC MEDIA USE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

CO-CHAPERONE ROLE OF PHOSDUCIN-LIKE PROTEIN IN G PROTEIN SUBUNIT ASSEMBLY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: QUANTIFYING CURRICULAR REASONING AS A CRITICAL PRACTICE IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS -TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS ENGAGE IN CURRICULAR REASONING AS THEY DESIGN AND INTERACT WITH THEIR STUDENTS, CHOOSE CURRICULAR MATERIALS, AND IMPLEMENT CURRICULUM STANDARDS IN THE SERVICE OF HIGH-QUALITY INSTRUCTION. CURRENTLY, THERE IS NO SHARED MEASURE OF CURRICULAR REASONING OF MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER CLASSROOM DECISION MAKING IN MATHEMATICS. IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT, THE TEAM DEVELOPS AND VALIDATES TWO MEASURES OF MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS? CURRICULAR REASONING IN MATHEMATICS AS PRACTICED. THE FIRST MEASURE LOOKS AT CURRICULUM REASONING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE TEACHER, THE SECOND MEASURE ATTENDS TO THE PERSPECTIVES OF THE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION RESEARCH COMMUNITY. THE RESEARCH EXAMINES TEACHER SELF-ASSESSMENT COMPARED AND ALIGNED WITH THOSE OF PROFESSIONAL OBSERVERS (E.G., COACHES, SCHOOL LEADERS, AND RESEARCHERS) TO ESTABLISH THE VALIDITY OF THE TEACHER SELF-REPORT MEASURE. THE RESEARCH ESTABLISHES BENCHMARK SCORES OF TEACHERS CURRICULAR REASONING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS, SUPPORTING INCREASED INTERPRETABILITY AND UTILITY OF THE CURRICULAR REASONING SCORE TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM PRACTICE. THE RESEARCHERS CAREFULLY EXAMINE FOUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS: [1] TO WHAT EXTENT DOES VALIDITY EVIDENCE SUPPORT USE OF THE CURRICULAR REASONING SELF-ASSESSMENT SURVEY SUITE FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHERS TO MEASURE THEIR OWN CURRICULAR REASONING? [2] TO WHAT EXTENT DOES VALIDITY EVIDENCE SUPPORT USE OF THE CURRICULAR REASONING OBSERVATION ASSESSMENT TO MEASURE MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHERS? CURRICULAR REASONING? [3] IS THERE A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHERS? CURRICULAR REASONING WHEN MEASURED BY THE NEW CURRICULAR REASONING TOOLS? [4] WHAT BENCHMARKS DEFINE DIFFERENT CURRICULAR REASONING LEVELS ON EACH OF THE TWO MEASURES? THE RESEARCH TEAM GATHERS VALIDITY DATA BASED ON SHARED STANDARDS HELD BY THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON MEASUREMENT IN EDUCATION, AND THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. THE RESEARCH ADVANCES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF TEACHER CURRICULAR REASONING THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TWO MEASURES. THE WORK BRIDGES RESEARCH AND PRACTICE AS THE RESEARCHERS USE SELF-REPORT AND OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT AND IMPROVE TEACHERS? PRACTICE OF CURRICULAR REASONING. THE TEAM USES RASCH PSYCHOMETRIC TOOLS FOR STANDARD SETTING TO IMPROVE THE USABILITY OF THE MEASURES FOR CLASSROOM USAGE. THE DISCOVERY RESEARCH PREK-12 PROGRAM (DRK-12) SEEKS TO SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) BY PREK-12 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS, THROUGH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE RESOURCES, MODELS, AND TOOLS. PROJECTS IN THE DRK-12 PROGRAM BUILD ON FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH IN STEM EDUCATION AND PRIOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS THAT PROVIDE THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR PROPOSED PROJECTS.? THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

BOTH OCEAN WIND AND LAND/ICE APPLICATIONS OF SCATTEROMETER DATA BENEFIT FROM THE APPLICATION OF PROVEN RECONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCING THE SP

PHYLOGENOMICS, REVISIONARY SYSTEMATICS, AND EVOLUTION OF THE VISUAL SYSTEMS IN DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES (INSECTA: ONONATA)

REGULATION OF SKELETAL MUSCLE LKB1

3D TEMPERATURE CONTROL TO STUDY BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES

NEUROPHARMACOLOGICAL SUBSTRATES OF ALCOHOL ADDICTION

SEE SCHEDULE

MECHANISMS OF CHAPERONE-MEDIATED FOLDING OF BETA-PROPELLER PROTEINS ESSENTIAL FOR VISION. - PROJECT SUMMARY THE CYTOSOLIC CHAPERONIN CCT IS A LARGE PROTEIN COMPLEX THAT PLAYS AN INDISPENSABLE ROLE IN MAINTAINING THE CELLULAR PROTEOME BY ASSISTING IN THE FOLDING OF NUMEROUS PROTEINS WITH COMPLEX TERTIARY STRUCTURES AND UNFAVORABLE FOLDING TRAJECTORIES. PROPER CCT FUNCTION IS VITAL TO HUMAN VISION AS EVIDENCED BY THE FACT THAT INACTIVATING MUTATIONS IN CCT CAUSE LEBER CONGENITAL AMAUROSIS (LCA). CCT CONTRIBUTES TO THE VISUAL PROCESS BY FOLDING THE CYTOSKELETAL PROTEINS ACTIN AND TUBULIN AS WELL AS OTHER PROTEINS WITH B-PROPELLER FOLDS THAT HAVE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS IN VISON. THESE INCLUDE THE G PROTEIN B1 (GB1) SUBUNIT OF THE VISUAL G PROTEIN TRANSDUCIN, THE G PROTEIN B5 (GB5) SUBUNIT OF THE REGULATOR OF G PROTEIN SIGNALING 9 (RGS9) DIMER, AND THE BBS2 AND BBS7 SUBUNITS OF THE BARDET-BIEDL SYNDROME (BBS) CILIARY TRANSPORT COMPLEX, THE BBSOME. DESPITE THE IMPORTANCE OF CCT IN MAINTAINING THE PROTEOME, WE KNOW VERY LITTLE AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL ABOUT HOW CCT ASSISTS IN THE FOLDING OF THESE B-PROPELLER PROTEINS AND HOW MUTATIONS DISRUPT FOLDING AND CAUSE DISEASE. TO ADDRESS THIS GAP IN KNOWLEDGE, WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE THE STRUCTURES OF HUMAN GB1 AND GB5 AND THEIR DISEASE-CAUSING MUTANTS. STRUCTURES OF GB5 BOUND TO CCT AND ITS CO-CHAPERONE PHLP1 SHOW PROGRESSIVE STEP-BY-STEP FORMATION OF THE GB5 B-PROPELLER THAT REVEALS ITS FOLDING TRAJECTORY. UNRAVELING HOW CCT INFLUENCES THE FOLDING TRAJECTORY OF A B-PROPELLER PROTEIN REPRESENTS A BREAKTHROUGH IN UNDERSTANDING CHAPERONE-MEDIATED PROTEIN FOLDING. MOREOVER, APPLYING THESE SAME TECHNIQUES TO MISFOLDING AND DISEASE-CAUSING MUTANTS OF GB1 AND GB5 WILL SHOW HOW THE MUTATIONS DISRUPT THEIR FOLDING TRAJECTORIES. FINALLY, WE PROPOSE TO EMPLOY OUR BIOCHEMICAL AND HIGH RESOLUTION CRYO-EM EXPERTISE TO UNDERSTANDING BIOGENESIS OF THE BBSOME COMPLEX. A KEY STEP IN BBSOME ASSEMBLY IS THE FORMATION OF THE BBS2-BBS7 DIMER, WHICH REQUIRES BOTH CCT AND THREE CHAPERONIN- LIKE (CL-BBS) PROTEINS BBS6, BBS10 AND BBS12 TO COME TOGETHER. DESPITE THE 18 YEARS SINCE CL-BBS PROTEIN DISCOVERY AND THE PREDOMINANT ROLE THEIR MUTATIONS PLAY IN CAUSING BBS, THE MOLECULAR MECHANISM BY WHICH THE CL-BBS PROTEINS AND CCT ASSIST IN BBS2 AND BBS7 FOLDING AND BBS2-BBS7 DIMER FORMATION IS UNKNOWN. THE PROPOSED STUDIES WILL FILL THIS GAP IN KNOWLEDGE AND WILL DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOLECULAR DEFECTS CAUSED BY MUTATIONS IN GB SUBUNITS, BBS7 AND CL-BBS PROTEINS. THE STRUCTURAL WORK WILL ESTABLISH A FOUNDATION FOR TARGETED, STRUCTURE-BASED DRUG DESIGN TO CREATE NEW THERAPIES FOR THE RETINOPATHIES, NEUROPATHIES AND CILIOPATHIES CAUSED BY THESE MUTATIONS.

CENTERS FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION

REASON CAN- APPLICATION & ENHANCEMENT OF THE SCATTEROMETER CLIMATE RECORD FINDER

VENTRAL TEGMENTAL AREA GABA NEURONS: PLASTICITY & OPIATE RECEPTORS AT INHIBITORY INPUTS

TRACKING INTERGRANULAR STRAIN DYNAMICS WITH NEAR-ATOMIC SCALE COHERENT X-RAY IMAGING AT NEXT GENERATION LIGHT SOURCES

FISCAL YEAR 2024 CONSOLIDATED INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR RESEARCH. UNIVERSITY NAME: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LEVERAGING MIPOS: DEVELOPING A THEORY OF PRODUCTIVE USE OF STUDENT MATHEMATICAL THINKING

DEVELOPING A CRISPR-BASED FORWARD-GENETIC SCREENING METHOD IN EMBRYONIC ZEBRAFISH

PIRE: SPECIATION IN PATAGONIA: ESTABLISHING SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS IN EVOLUTION, ECOLOGY, AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

RUI: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NETWORK CLUSTER: DUST IN THE CRITICAL ZONE FROM THE GREAT BASIN TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

RAGE TARGETING ATTENUATES SMOKE-INDUCED INFLAMMATION

2022-2026 CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATION GRANT

QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF ESSENTIAL TREMOR FOR FUTURE TREMOR SUPPRESSION

OBJECTIVES. WE PROPOSE A NEW TYPE OF DUAL ION TRAP WHICH WOULD BE USED EITHER AS A STANDALONE MASS SPECTROMETER OR AS PART OF A HYBRID INSTRUMENT (I.

THE REGULATION AND TARGETING OF CELL SURVIVAL PATHWAYS IN CANCER

LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTERS

GENETIC STUDIES ON BACTERIAL TRANS-TRANSLATION

MASS SPECTROMETRY-BASED BIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SINGLE CELLS BEYOND THE GLOBAL PROTEOME - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT BIOLOGICAL TISSUES EXHIBIT A HIGH DEGREE OF PHENOTYPIC HETEROGENEITY AND PLASTICITY, COMPRISING MANY DIFFERENT SUBPOPULATIONS OF CELLS IN VARIOUS STATES. QUANTIFYING THIS HETEROGENEITY AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL AND WITH MOLECULAR DEPTH ACROSS LARGE NUMBERS OF CELLS AND MULTIPLE CLASSES OF MOLECULES PROVIDES INFORMATION THAT CANNOT BE OBTAINED AT THE BULK SCALE AND WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD TO IMPROVED DIAGNOSTICS AND MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. WHILE SINGLE-CELL NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING APPROACHES ARE HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH, PROTEINS, LIPIDS AND METABOLITES MEDIATE THE BULK OF CELLULAR FUNCTION AND MEASUREMENT OF THEIR EXPRESSION PROVIDES MORE DIRECT INSIGHT INTO CELLULAR PHENOTYPE. THERE IS THUS AN URGENT NEED TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR LARGE-SCALE DIRECT PROTEOME, LIPIDOME AND METABOLOME PROFILING AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL. TO FILL THIS GAP, MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS)-BASED PROFILING OF PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN SINGLE CELLS HAS RECENTLY BEEN DEMONSTRATED THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MORE EFFICIENT SAMPLE PROCESSING WORKFLOWS, NOVEL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS AND IMPROVED INSTRUMENT SENSITIVITY. LABEL-FREE MS-BASED PROTEOMICS CAN NOW QUANTIFY >3,000 PROTEIN GROUPS PER CELL ACROSS >4 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE OF DYNAMIC RANGE. HERE WE PROPOSE TO APPLY MASS SPECTROMETRY TO STUDY BIOMOLECULAR EXPRESSION AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL BEYOND THE GLOBAL PROTEOME. WE WILL DEVELOP GLOBAL AND TARGETED APPROACHES TO PROFILE POSTTRANSLATIONAL MODIFICATIONS IN SINGLE CELLS, BEGINNING WITH PHOSPHORYLATION. WE WILL ALSO EXTEND NANOFLOW LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-MS CAPABILITIES FOR IN-DEPTH SINGLE-CELL LIPID PROFILING. ULTIMATELY, WE WILL DEVELOP NOVEL MEANS OF GENERATING COMPLEX LC GRADIENTS THAT UTILIZE MORE THAN TWO MOBILE PHASES TO EFFICIENTLY PROFILE MULTIPLE CLASSES OF BIOMOLECULES (E.G., PROTEOME AND LIPIDOME) FROM THE SAME SINGLE CELL. THESE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS WILL, IN COMBINATION WITH MATURE NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCING STRATEGIES, PROVIDE AN UNPRECEDENTED VIEW OF CELLULAR REGULATION FROM GENOTYPE TO PHENOTYPE AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL.

A RE-CONFIGURABLE TESTBED FOR AUTONOMOUS HETEROGENEOUS MARINE MAPPING, SENSING, AND SEARCH

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ATOL: MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GRANTS

FISCAL YEAR 2023 CONSOLIDATED INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR RESEARCH - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

NUCLEAR ENERGY UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS - NUCLEAR ENERGY UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS CONSOLIDATED INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR RESEARCH - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GENEALOGY OF ODONATA (GEODE): DISPERSAL AND COLOR AS DRIVERS OF 300 MILLION YEARS OF GLOBAL DRAGONFLY EVOLUTION

PREDICTIVE STRUCTURE-BASED GUIDELINES FOR IDENTIFYING OPTIMAL PEGYLATION SITES WITHIN PROTEINS

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS

PROBING SHORT-RANGE STRUCTURE AND MAGNETISM IN NEXT-GENERATION ENERGY CONVERSION MATERIALS

YIP MODELING NATURAL DYNAMIC SCENES FOR AUTONOMOUS LITTORAL OPERATIONS

CAREER: GENETIC NETWORKS OF BRACT SUPPRESSION IN MAIZE

GREENHOUSE GAS LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF BIOCHAR EFFECTS ON MARGINAL LAND CONVERSION TO SWITCHGRASS PRODUCTION

** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** ENGINEERING FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS PARTNERSHIP: THE INFLUENCE OF LEAF SHEATH ON GREENSNAP GRAIN FAILURE

EXPANSION OF THE 'GETTING STARTED IN CRYO-EM' COURSE INTO A COMPREHENSIVE THEORY AND PRACTICE CURRICULUM

APOPTOSIS IN AN OVINE MODEL OF INTRAUTERINE GROWTH RESTRICTION (IUGR)

NRI: FND: FOUNDATIONS FOR PHYSICAL CO-MANIPULATION WITH MIXED TEAMS OF HUMANS AND SOFT ROBOTS

IMPROVING RESILIENCY AND REDUCING RISK OF EXTREME HYDROLOGIC EVENTS THROUGH APPLICATION OF EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND INSITU MONITORING INFORMATION

23-TTT-0032 BRINGING THE POWER OF ALGORITHMIC AND IMPLICIT DIFFERENTIATION TO OPENMDAO

FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES SUPPORTING THE CREATION OF HIGH INTEGRITY WELDMENTS VIA THE FRICTION STIR PROCESS

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

CAREER: THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF ABORTIVE SYMBIOSIS

NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS

REAL TIME ADAPTIVE BEAMFORMING AND INTERFERENCE MITIGATION

FISCAL YEAR 2023 CONSOLIDATED INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR RESEARCH - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

IUCRC PHASE I BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY: CENTER FOR AUTONOMOUS AIR MOBILITY AND SENSING (CAAMS) -THE WORLD?S AVIATION INDUSTRY IS MOVING TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS AIR MOBILITY AND SENSING, WHERE NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ENERGY SYSTEMS, AERODYNAMICS, STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS, ADVANCED MANUFACTURING, AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN ARE ENABLING NEW AIR VEHICLE CONCEPTS AND NEW WAYS OF USING AVIATION IN THE DAILY TRANSPORT OF INFORMATION, PEOPLE, AND CARGO. THE CENTER FOR AUTONOMOUS AIR MOBILITY AND SENSING (CAAMS) WILL PRODUCE NEW FUNDAMENTAL ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE, WILL DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND WILL TRAIN A NEW WORKFORCE NEEDED BY POOLING THE TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW OF AMERICA?S LEADING ENGINEERING RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES WITH INNOVATIVE COMPANIES RANGING FROM STARTUPS TO LONG-ESTABLISHED LEADERS IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. CAAMS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON IMPROVING AIR VEHICLE PERFORMANCE, SUSTAINABILITY, SAFETY SYSTEMS, MANUFACTURABILITY, AND RELIABILITY BY INTEGRATING RESEARCH IN TRADITIONAL AEROSPACE FIELDS SUCH AS CONTROL, AERODYNAMICS, STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS, COMMUNICATION, AND ENERGY STORAGE WITH NEW DISCIPLINES INCLUDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MACHINE LEARNING, AND ROBOTICS. BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY?S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAAMS INCLUDE RESEARCH SPECIALIZATIONS IN GPS-DENIED AND DEGRADED NAVIGATION, ALGORITHMS FOR AUTONOMOUS TRACKING FROM UNMANNED AIRCRAFT USING ELECTRO-OPTICAL AND INFRARED CAMERAS, GUIDANCE AND CONTROL OF ELECTRIC VERTICAL TAKE-OFF AND LANDING (EVTOL) AIRCRAFT, MULTI-VEHICLE COORDINATION AND CONTROL, UNMANNED AIRCRAFT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT, AIRBORNE INFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING, AND EVTOL AIRCRAFT AERODYNAMIC MODELING AND DESIGN OPTIMIZATION. AUTONOMOUS AIR MOBILITY AND SENSING INCLUDES A BROAD RANGE OF VEHICLE CONCEPTS, INTEGRATED SUBSYSTEMS, SUPPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE, TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS, AND APPLICATIONS THAT EXPLOIT INCREASINGLY AUTONOMOUS CAPABILITIES IN AVIATION. THESE AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND RELIABILITY, REDUCE COSTS, AND ENABLE NEW MISSIONS OF NATIONAL AND GLOBAL IMPORTANCE. THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR AUTONOMOUS AIRCRAFT IS EXPECTED TO REACH $1.5 TRILLION BY 2040, AND CAAMS WILL BE A KEY ASSET IN ENHANCING US COMPETITIVENESS. CENTER RESEARCH WILL SUPPORT DOZENS OF STUDENTS EVERY YEAR, GIVING THEM HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH ADVANCED AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AND DIRECT UNDERSTANDING OF INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES AND NEEDS. CENTER OUTCOMES WILL BE BROADLY DISSEMINATED THROUGH ARCHIVAL PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS AT ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE CONFERENCES, AND TECHNICAL INTERCHANGES WITH AVIATION INDUSTRY MEMBERS. A SINGLE CENTER-WIDE DATA REPOSITORY WILL BE ESTABLISHED BY THE LEAD SITE WITH A PASSWORD-PROTECTED WEB PORTAL THAT CAN BE ACCESSED BY ALL CENTER INDUSTRY MEMBERS. PROJECT DATA WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO CENTER MEMBERS ANNUALLY AND WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST TO THE PUBLIC TWO YEARS AFTER THE CENTER FISCAL YEAR HAS ENDED. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

ION PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORT IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE ION SOURCE MASS SPECTROMETERS EQUIPMENT

NATURAL RESOURCES SUPPORT

ENERGETICS OF NANOMATERIALS

GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION TOOLS THAT USE MACHINE-LEARNING TO ENABLE SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT IN WEST AFRICA

GBCESU UT SPECIAL STATUS SPECIES AND OTHER SPECIAL WILDLIFE INVENTORIES IN UTAH

CAREER: COMBINING ENGINEERING, BIOMECHANICS, AND GENETIC ANALYSIS TO ENABLE THE DESIGN OF STRUCTURALLY SUPERIOR GRAIN CROPS

EXPANDING THE CAPABILITIES AND USAGE OF THE TELSAM PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION CHAPERONE - THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED FOR NEW PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION METHODS THAT ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL AND REQUIRE LESS LABOR, TIME, AND RESOURCES. LACK OF STRAIGHTFORWARD METHODS TO SUCCESSFULLY CRYSTALLIZE ANY PROTEIN OF INTEREST SIGNIFI- CANTLY HINDERS STUDY OF MOLECULAR DISEASE MECHANISMS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. THIS LACK OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR MANY DISEASES FORCES THEM TO BE ADDRESSED INSTEAD WITH COSTLY SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS, WE HAVE INVESTIGATED TELSAM, A NOVEL POLYMER-FORMING PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZA- TION CHAPERONE. TELSAM CARRIER PROTEINS CAN BE GENETICALLY FUSED TO DISEASE PROTEINS, DRUG TARGETS, AND BIOEN- GINEERED PROTEINS. IN LOW PH CRYSTALLIZATION CONDITIONS, TELSAM-TARGET PROTEIN FUSIONS POLYMERIZE, AND THE RE- SULTING POLYMERS ZIPPER UP TO FORM CRYSTALS SUITABLE FOR X-RAY DIFFRACTION AND ATOMIC RESOLUTION STRUCTURE DETERMI- NATION. TELSAM FUSION READILY FORMS CRYSTALS OF 90% OF PROTEINS OF INTEREST (A STARK IMPROVEMENT OVER THE 30% CRYSTALLIZATION RATE OF TRADITIONAL METHODS) AND ROUTINELY AT PROTEIN CONCENTRATIONS OF 1 MG/ML (PROMISING TO ENABLE THE STRUCTURE DETERMINATION OF PROTEINS THAT CAN ONLY BE PRODUCED IN MINUTE QUANTITIES). TELSAM FUSION CRYSTAL- LOGRAPHY THUS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE SMALL MOLECULE AND BIOLOGIC THERAPEUTIC INDUSTRIES BY ACCEL- ERATING STRUCTURE DETERMINATION STEPS, CURRENTLY A BOTTLENECK. FOR TELSAM TO REALIZE THIS POTENTIAL, ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE BIOLOGISTS NEED 1) EXPERIMENTALLY VALIDATED GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE USE OF TELSAM, 2) A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF SUCCESSFUL USE CASES TO DEMONSTRATE GENERAL EFFICACY, AND 3) DEMONSTRATION OF THE APPLICA- TIONS AND LIMITS OF TELSAM FUSION CRYSTALLIZATION. THUS FAR WE HAVE RIGOROUSLY INVESTIGATED THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR TELSAM’S USE AND BEGUN TO DEMONSTRATE ITS USEFULNESS WITH PROTEINS RELEVANT IN HUMAN DISEASE. OUR GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS ARE TO RIGOROUSLY ADDRESS THE ABOVE THREE NEEDS AND BROADLY DISSEMINATE OUR FINDINGS TO THE STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY COMMUNITY. THE OVERALL VISION OF OUR RESEARCH PROGRAM IS FOCUSED ON PUSHING THE LIMITS OF PROTEIN ENGINEERING AND STRUCTURE DETERMINATION FIELDS WHILE AT THE SAME TIME DEVELOPING UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS, INCLUDING THOSE FROM UNDERREPRESENTED BACKGROUNDS, INTO EXCELLENT BIOCHEMISTS. WE DO THIS BY PUTTING THEM AT THE FRONT LINES OF GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH. BOTH UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS IN OUR GROUP PARTICIPATE IN ALL PARTS OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY, INCLUDING REAGENT PREPARATION, EXPERIMENT DESIGN AND EXECUTION, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, AND MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION AT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WILL ACCELERATE THE SUCCESSFUL STRUCTURE DETERMINATION OF A GREATER NUMBER AND VARIETY OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DISEASE-RELEVANT PROTEINS, DRUGS, AND BIOLOGICS, ULTIMATELY LEADING TO NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY TOOLS, MORE EFFECTIVE DISEASE TREATMENTS, AND REDUCED HEALTHCARE COSTS.

EXTENDING THE SCATTEROMETER WIND AND BACKSCATTER CLIMATE RECORD SCATTEROMETERS WERE ORIGINALLY DESIGNED ONLY FOR OCEAN WIND MEASUREMENTS; HOWEVER, SC

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (BYU) AND HILL AIR FORCE BASE (HAFB), NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM, WILL COOPERATE TO CONDUCT NATURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY, MONITORING, AND HABITAT RESTORATION THAT ENSURES MILITARY MISSION ACTIVITIES ARE CONDUCTED IN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL APPLICABLE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS, REGULATIONS AND POLICIES THAT PROTECT SPECIES AND MAINTAIN HEALTHY HABITATS AND PLANT COMMUNITIES. BYU WILL WORK IN CLOSE PARTNERSHIP WITH HAFB TO ADDRESS NATURAL RESOURCE RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ON BIOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, SOCIAL, AND RESOURCE (NATURAL) SCIENCES FOR ADDRESSING RESOURCE ISSUES AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PROBLEM-SOLVING AT MULTIPLE SCALES. BYU WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY PERSONNEL, EQUIPMENT, AND MATERIALS REQUIRED TO CONDUCT NATURAL RESOURCE SUPPORT, AND PROVIDE ANNUAL REPORTS THAT SUMMARIZE THE WORK THAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD TO SUPPORT THE NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAM WITHIN THE HILL AFB ENVIRONMENTAL BRANCH AT ITS UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE (UTTR). BYU WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT IN 1) MAPPING AND MONITORING OF WILDLIFE HABITATS, 2) INVENTORYING BURROWING OWL POPULATIONS, 3) TRAPPING SMALL MAMMALS INCLUDING DARK KANGAROO MICE TO ASSESS POPULATION TRENDS, 4) CONDUCTING RAPTOR HABITAT SURVEYS THROUGHOUT THE UTTR, 5) ASSESSING KIT FOX POPULATIONS AND DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS, 6) PERFORMING AVIAN MIST NET AND POINT COUNT SURVEYS, 7) MONITORING PREDATOR POPULATIONS, 8) CONDUCTING UNGULATE, REPTILE, AND BAT SURVEYS, AND 9) CONDUCTING HABITAT RESTORATION AND VEGETATION MONITORING. AT THE COMPLETION OF THE FIELD SEASON, BYU WILL PROVIDE UTTR HAFB MANAGERS WITH FINAL ANNUAL REPORTS, SUBMITTED IN DECEMBER 2024, THAT PRESENT THE WORK, DATA COLLECTED, ANALYSES, AND RECOMMENDATIONS THAT APPLY TO EACH TASK. THESE DATA WILL BE USED TO INFORM NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS AT THE UTTR FOR IDENTIFYING SPECIES REQUIREMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS THAT WOULD IMPROVE MANAGEMENT AND CONVERSATION EFFORTS.

21-SERVIR21_2-0007 INTEGRATED GLOBAL AND LOCAL HYDROLOGIC MODELS FOR FLOOD EARLY WARNING AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

PHOTO DATABASE AND AUTOMATION ALGORITHM- DPG, UT

MRI: DEVELOPMENT OF A FLEXIBLE MULTICHANNEL DIGITAL RECEIVER FOR RADIO ASTRONOMY

WE PROPOSE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE THAT WILL DIRECTLY MEASURE BOTH THE ELECTRICAL CHARGE AND THE MASS OF ATMOSPHERIC DUST PARTICLES ON MARS. SUCH MEASUREMENTS HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN MADE ON MARS BUT ARE CRITICAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF DUST ON HUMAN MARS ACTIVITIES AND IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION. THESE MEASUREMENTS WILL ALSO INFORM MODELS OF WEATHERING AND ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS ON MARS. THE DEVICE CONSISTS OF AN ARRAY OF IMAGE CHARGE DETECTORS MADE USING PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS. PARTICLE CHARGE IS MEASURED DIRECTLY FOR EACH GRAIN THAT ENTERS THE INSTRUMENT. MASS IS DETERMINED BY ELECTROSTATICALLY SLOWING THE PARTICLE IN A REGION BETWEEN TWO DETECTION ARRAYS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT SEEKS TO DEVELOP THIS DEVICE FROM TRL 2 TO TRL 3 INCLUDING TESTING WITH CHARGED MARS DUST SIMULANT. THE PROPOSAL INCLUDES DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-NOISE AMPLIFIER THAT GREATLY EXCEEDS THE PERFORMANCE OF THE HERITAGE AMPTEK AMPLIFIER. SCIENCE GOALS OF THE PROPOSED DEVICE INCLUDE MEASUREMENT OF THE ELECTRICAL CHARGE AND MASS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL DUST GRAINS THAT ARE BLOWN THROUGH THE INSTRUMENT. IT WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE TO INCLUDE A PUMP OR BLOWER AND FORCE PARTICLE-LADEN AIR THROUGH THE INSTRUMENT. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO MARS EXPLORATION AND SCIENCE. ELECTROSTATIC ADHESION OF DUST IS EXPECTED TO BE AN ISSUE IN HUMAN EXPLORATION OF MARS (STICKING TO ASTRONAUT SUITS AS OCCURRED DURING LUNAR SURFACE MISSIONS POSSIBLE RESPIRATORY EFFECTS ETC.) AND ALSO TO MECHANICAL OPERATIONS SUCH AS ISRU PROCESSING OF THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE TO PRODUCE OXYGEN. PRIOR MEASUREMENTS CONSTRAINED GENERAL SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS VIA OPTICAL SCATTERING BUT NEITHER CHARGE NOR MASS HAS BEEN DIRECTLY MEASURED. FURTHER NO INSTRUMENTS HAVE BEEN SELECTED ON ANY UPCOMING MARS MISSIONS (EXOMARS MARS2020 INSIGHT) THAT ARE ABLE TO MAKE THESE MEASUREMENTS. THUS THE PROPOSED WORK DIRECTLY ADVANCES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DUST PROPERTIES AND PROCESSES ON MARS. FURTHER THE PROPOSED EFFORT FALLS BEST INTO THE PICASSO PROGRAM BECAUSE IF THE TRL LEVEL DEVELOPMENT THE FACT THAT THIS IS INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT AND THE PLANETARY-SPECIFIC TARGETS FOR THE INSTRUMENT TYPE.

WEARABLE NANOCOMPOSITE SENSOR SYSTEM FOR DIAGNOSING MECHANICAL SOURCES OF LOW BACK PAIN AND GUIDING REHABILITATION

IMAGING AND INFLUENCE OF GLOTTIC AND SUBGLOTTIC ANATOMY IN HEALTHY AND STENOTIC PATIENTS

MRI: AQUISITION OF GENOME SEQUENCER FLX SYSTEM

NUCLEAR ENERGY UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS - NUCLEAR ENERGY UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS CONSOLIDATED INNOVATIVE NUCLEAR RESEARCH - BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

I/UCRC: PHASE II RENEWAL OF CHREC CENTER - BYU SITE

TAS::57 3600::TAS "INTEGRATED ISOGEOMETRIC APPROACH TO ENGINEERING DESIGN AND OPTIMAIZATION OF AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES"

BYU SITE FOR CHREC I/UCRC

ADVANCES IN CLOUD COMPUTING OFFER A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO FACILITATE BETTER USE OF WATER RESOURCE MODELS AS DECISION-MAKING TOOLS. MODELING SOFTWARE

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT MANAGEMENT OF PRIORITY SPECIES AND THEIR HABITATS IN THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE MOUNTAIN-PRAIRIE REGION.

BRITE PIVOT: TOWARDS INTELLIGENT HEALTH MONITORING, INSPECTION, AND RECONNAISSANCE OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE USING AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS

REU SITE: PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY RESEARCH AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY -THIS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY WILL PROVIDE STUDENTS FROM A DIVERSE POOL OF UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS WITH A MEMORABLE AND FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY RESEARCH TO SOLIDIFY THEIR COMMITMENT TO FURTHER STUDY AND CAREERS IN SCIENTIFIC FIELDS. THE LEADERS WILL GUIDE PARTICIPANTS IN SHORT BUT INTENSE RESEARCH PROJECTS IN ONE OF THE MANY ACTIVE RESEARCH AREAS IN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY. THE WHOLE COHORT IS MENTORED FROM INITIAL RESEARCH PROSPECTUS TO FINAL REPORT AND INTERMEDIATE PRESENTATIONS IN ADDITION TO THE ONE-ON-ONE FACULTY MENTORING. PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT ARE COMPLEMENTED WITH INFORMAL ACTIVITIES FOR SOCIAL COHESION AND NETWORKING. THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS' PROJECTS EXPLORE A BROAD SPECTRUM OF CURRENTLY UNSOLVED PROBLEMS THROUGH HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES UNDER A FACULTY MENTOR'S DIRECT SUPERVISION TO PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT AND LASTING EDUCATIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL BENEFITS TO THE PARTICIPANTS. AS THE PARTICIPANTS' PROJECTS ARE INTEGRATED INTO THE CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAM OF ACTIVE RESEARCH GROUPS, THEY ARE LIKELY TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE ADVANCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRODUCE RESULTS THAT CAN BE PUBLISHED AND/OR PRESENTED AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS. PARTICIPANTS ARE IMMERSED IN AN INTENSE COLLABORATIVE EXPERIMENT CENTERED AROUND COLLEGIALITY AND SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE AT A SIGNIFICANT TIME IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. BY ASSEMBLING A VAST GROUP OF DIVERSE PARTICIPANTS FROM DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE BUT WITH A COMMON PURPOSE AND INTEREST IN PHYSICS, THE PROGRAM INTENDS TO CREATE LIFELONG CONNECTIONS AND A RESOURCE NETWORK THAT WILL BENEFIT ALL PARTICIPANTS, THEIR SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTIVITY, AND PROFESSIONAL TRAJECTORY. A PARTICULAR ASPECT OF THE PROGRAM IS THE INCLUSION OF TWO RET PARTICIPANTS, TYPICALLY ONE LOCAL. THERE ARE IDENTICAL RESEARCH EXPECTATIONS FOR REU AND RET PARTICIPANTS, AND BOTH GROUPS BENEFIT FROM THE ASSOCIATION. THE PROGRAM OFFERS EXPERIMENTAL, COMPUTATIONAL, AND THEORETICAL PROJECTS IN A WIDE VARIETY OF SUB FIELDS OF PHYSICS. ALTHOUGH EACH STUDENT'S PROJECT IS UNIQUE, PARTICIPANTS INDICATE THAT THEY BENEFIT FROM THE BROADER EXPOSURE TO PHYSICS THROUGH THE REU COHORT. THE AREAS COVERED INCLUDE: QUANTUM INFORMATION AND DYNAMICS, SEMICONDUCTOR AND SOLAR ENERGY NANOMATERIALS, BROWN DWARFS AND EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES, COHERENT LENSES IMAGING AND OPTICS, ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND NANOFABRICATION, GALACTIC ASTRONOMY DEEP IMAGING, LOCAL STRUCTURE OF QUANTUM MATERIALS, MATERIALS STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES AND SYMMETRIES, MODELING COMPLEX SYSTEMS, NANOMAGNETISM, NONLINEAR ACOUSTICS, NUMERICAL RELATIVITY, OBSERVATIONAL ASTRONOMY, PARTICLE THEORY, PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY EDUCATION, PULSATING STAR ASTRONOMY, AND UNDERWATER ACOUSTICS, MATERIAL PHYSICS FOR SPACE OBSERVATION, 3D PRINTING IN SCIENCE TEACHING, ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI, COMPUTATIONAL BIOPHYSICS, ORBITS OF EXOPLANETS AND SOLAR SYSTEM SMALL BODIES, ACOUSTICS AND VIBRATION. THIS AWARD IS SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF PHYSICS, THE DIVISION OF MATERIALS RESEARCH, AND THE DIVISION OF ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCES WITHIN THE DIRECTORATE OF MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** FARMERS HAVE METHODS TO APPLY WATER AT THE SCALE OF A FEW FEET BUT DO NOT HAVE THE REQUIRED INFORMATION TO KNOW WHERE AND HOW MUCH WATER TO APPLY AT THAT SCALE. IF FARMERS KNEW WHICH AREAS OF A FIELD NEEDED MORE OR LESS WATER, THEY COULD GROW THE SAME AMOUNT OF PRODUCE WITH LESS WATER, BRINGING ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO THE FARMER.THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DESIGN AND DEPLOY MANY INEXPENSIVE BLUETOOTH DEVICES IN A FIELD THAT CAN SEND SOIL WETNESS DATA TO A FEW RECEIVERS IN THE FIELD. MAPS GENERATED DAILY FROM THE WETNESS INFORMATION WILL INDICATE WHERE AND HOW MUCH WATER TO APPLY. FARMERS CAN USE THE MAPS TO PROGRAM IRRIGATION DEVICES TO APPLY WATER WHERE AND WHEN IT IS NEEDED. BY USING THIS INFORMATION, FARMERS WILL REAP ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND BE ABLE TO RESPOND BETTER TO CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS, PRODUCTIVITY WILL INCREASE, AND LIMITED WATER RESOURCES WILL BE MORE EFFICIENTLY USED BY COMMUNITIES.

WITH DATA SPANNING NEARLY FOUR DECADES (1978-2017) THE WIND SCATTEROMETER CLIMATE RECORD (WSCR) PROVIDES ONE OF THE LONGEST SATELLITE DATA SETS AVAILABLE FOR CLIMATE STUDIES.

IGA ASC HOMING TO MUCOSAL TISSUES

MATERIALS WORLD NETWORK: DISCOVERING NOVEL ALLOYS VIA A COMBINED COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

TUES: A NEW CURRICULUM IN APPLIED AND COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS

ADVANCED CROSS-MODALITY LOCALIZATION AND MAPPING

CAREER: DEVELOPING LANGUAGE MODELS VIA BIO-INSPIRED LEARNING ALGORITHMS -THIS PROJECT LEVERAGES RECENT FINDINGS FROM NEUROSCIENCE TO CREATE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) LANGUAGE MODELS THAT STORE KNOWLEDGE AND RESPOND TO INPUT MORE LIKE BIOLOGICAL BRAINS. THIS WILL BE DONE BY CHANGING THE FLOW OF INFORMATION THROUGH THE LANGUAGE MODEL IN WAYS THAT MAKE IT MORE RESPONSIVE TO HUMAN EMOTIONS, MORE SKILLED AT REMEMBERING AND USING INFORMATION PROVIDE BY HUMANS, AND BETTER ABLE TO MAKE FAIR AND EQUITABLE DECISIONS WHEN THE DESIRES OF MANY PEOPLE COME INTO CONFLICT. THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE MANY HARMS CAUSED BY AI SYSTEMS CAN BE TRACED TO OVER-RELIANCE ON TRAINING DATA AND AN INABILITY TO ADAPT TO THE SITUATION AND NEEDS OF SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS. THE NEW MODELS WILL BE RIGOROUSLY TESTED IN SIMULATIONS WHERE HUMANS AND AIS WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE DECISIONS AND ACCOMPLISH TASKS, AND WILL BE PROBED TO DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND/OR RISKS INTRODUCED BY THIS BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED COMPUTING PARADIGM. ADDITIONALLY, THIS RESEARCH WILL EXPAND PARTICIPATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BY INVOLVING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS INCLUDING A VISITING RESEARCH PROGRAM THAT REMOTELY HOSTS STUDENTS FROM OTHER UNIVERSITIES. RESEARCH RESULTS WILL BE SHARED VIA WORKSHOPS, ACADEMIC ARTICLES, AND PUBLIC MEDIA. THIS RESEARCH WILL BE CONDUCTED VIA THREE RESEARCH THRUSTS, EACH ADDRESSING A SPECIFIC BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED PROPERTY THAT CURRENT LANGUAGE MODELS LACK, RESULTING IN NEW OPEN-SOURCE FOUNDATION MODELS IN THE 7B-20B PARAMETER RANGE. SPECIFICALLY, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL DEVELOP BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED ALGORITHMS THAT EMULATE MIRROR NEURONS, LONG-TERM POTENTIATION, AND METAPLASTICITY WITHIN TRANSFORMER-BASED LANGUAGE MODELS. THE MODELS CREATED DURING THIS PROJECT WILL BE EVALUATED IN TWO WAYS: (A) VIA AUTOMATED METRICS THAT ASSESS THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSIVENESS AND FACTUAL ACCURACY OF THE MODEL, AND (B) VIA DIRECT HUMAN-LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL (LLM) INTERACTIONS IN MULTI-PARTY SCENARIOS WHERE PARTICIPANTS HAVE CONFLICTING PRIORITIES, AND WHERE THE LLM HAS CONTROL OVER (LOW-RISK) OUTCOMES THAT AFFECT HUMANS. THESE STUDIES ARE DESIGNED TO PRESERVE PARTICIPANT WELL-BEING WHILE PROVIDING A VALUABLE LITMUS TEST OF LANGUAGE MODEL BEHAVIOR ?IN THE WILD?. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT DEVELOPED LANGUAGE MODELS WILL BE BETTER ABLE TO MANAGE CONTESTED RESOURCES, AND MORE EFFECTIVE AT RESPONDING APPROPRIATELY TO NUANCED HUMAN EMOTIONS AND EXPERIENCES. THEY MAY ALSO BE UNIQUELY SUITED TO AGENTIC SCENARIOS THAT REQUIRE THE MODEL TO ITERATIVELY FORMULATE OBJECTIVES, PLAN ACTIONS, WRITE AND EXECUTE CODE, AND DELIVER REASONABLE RESULTS BACK TO HUMANS IN REAL-WORLD SCENARIOS WITH DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CONSTRAINTS. THIS PROJECT IS JOINTLY FUNDED BY THE FOUNDATIONS OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM, THE ROBUST INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM, AND THE SCIENCE OF LEARNING AND AUGMENTED INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

BRITE PIVOT: HIGH-VOLUME MANUFACTURING OF ORIGAMI-INSPIRED STRUCTURES AND FORMS FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION -MODERN MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES REDUCE PRICE AND INCREASE QUALITY OF MANY OF THE PRODUCTS WE USE EVERY DAY. HOWEVER, BUILDINGS CONTINUE TO BE MANUFACTURED ON-SITE WITH HIGH LEVELS OF SKILLED MANUAL LABOR. THIS LEADS TO HIGHER COSTS AND LOWER QUALITY, WHICH ARE A KEY FACTOR IN THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS ACROSS MOST OF THE COUNTRY. ADDITIONALLY, THE USE OF MANUAL METHODS REQUIRES STANDARDIZATION IN MANY DETAILS RATHER THAN OPTIMIZING FOR REDUCED MATERIAL USAGE. AUTOMATION IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION METHODS HAS BEEN LIMITED BY THE DIFFICULTY OF TRANSPORTING LARGE COMPONENTS AND THE DESIRE TO CUSTOMIZE BUILDINGS. THIS BOOSTING RESEARCH IDEAS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE AND EQUITABLE ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING (BRITE) PIVOT AWARD SEEKS TO DEVELOP A NEW MANUFACTURING APPROACH THAT WILL ENABLE FABRICATION OF CUSTOMIZED BUILDING SYSTEMS IN A COMPACT STATE. THESE COMPACT COMPONENTS AND FORMS CAN BE READILY SHIPPED AND THEN DEPLOYED ON-SITE. THIS INNOVATION IS EXPECTED TO DECREASE THE COSTS OF HOUSING TO INCREASE AFFORDABILITY. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO DEVELOP A K-12 CURRICULUM TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF STEM CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AMONG FIRST- AND SECOND-GENERATION HISPANIC CHILDREN. THE PROJECT WILL APPLY THE LITTLE-USED SHEET-LAMINATION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (3D PRINTING) PROCESS TO FABRICATE ORIGAMI. SHEET LAMINATION APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN LIMITED WHEN USED TO CREATE MONOLITHIC STRUCTURES, BUT SHEET LAMINATION OFFERS STRONG ADVANTAGES FOR CREATING ORIGAMI SINCE IT LEVERAGES THE STRENGTHS OF THE NATIVE SHEETS. THE DIGITAL CONTROL OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING ALLOWS FOR EASY CUSTOMIZATION. BY SELECTIVELY BONDING AND CUTTING STACKED SHEETS, ORIGAMI-INSPIRED DEPLOYABLE SYSTEMS WILL BE FABRICATED. THIS APPROACH WILL ENABLE LOW-COST, HIGH-VOLUME PRODUCTION OF BUILDING COMPONENTS SUCH AS CONCRETE FORMS IN A COMPACT SHAPE FOR EASY TRANSPORT. TO ACHIEVE THESE OBJECTIVES, KINEMATIC MODELS AND FABRICATION METHODS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND METHODS OF CONVERTING TRADITIONAL SINGLE SHEET ORIGAMI DESIGNS FOR MANUFACTURING AS STACKS OF SHEETS WILL BE CREATED. THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS WILL BE EXTENDED TO FIBER-REINFORCED COMPOSITES BY DEVELOPING METHODS OF CREATING LOCAL HINGES IN VACUUM-INFUSED SHEETS. STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING INTERLAMINAR PEEL STRENGTH WILL ALSO BE EVALUATED. KINEMATIC SOLUTIONS FOR FABRICATING OPEN STRUCTURES AND CONTAINERS THESE STACKED SHEET CONFIGURATIONS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND DEMONSTRATED AS SCALED MODELS OF BUILDING STRUCTURES AND/OR FORMWORK. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF AN UNDERDAMPED PNEUMATICALLY ACTUATED SOFT ROBOT WITH FLEXIBLE LINKS FOR UNMODELED ENVIRONMENTS SOFT MACHINES ARE OFTEN PERCEIVED AS LESS CAPABLE WHEN COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL RIGID ROBOTS. HOWEVER OUR PROPOSED WORK WILL SHOW THAT WE CAN HAVE COMPLIANT UNDERACTUATED SYSTEMS THAT ARE ROBUST WHEN OPERATING IN UNCERTAIN CONDITIONS WHILE STILL HAVING PRECISE HIGH PERFORMANCE CONTROL FOR MANIPULATION AND MOBILITY. IN ORDER TO DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE CONTROL FOR SOFT ROBOTS WE WILL USE OPTIMAL CONTROL METHODS SUCH AS MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL (MPC). THESE METHODS WILL INITIALLY BE DEVELOPED ON A 14 DEGREE OF FREEDOM PNEUMATICALLY ACTUATED FABRIC-BASED LIGHT-WEIGHT MECHANICALLY ROBUST ROBOT TORSO AND ARMS DEVELOPED BY OTHERLAB (PNEUBOTICS). THIS PLATFORM WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED FOR THE DARPA MAXIMUM MOBILITY AND MANIPULATION PROGRAM AND WILL ARRIVE AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY INDEPENDENT OF THIS PROPOSAL BY EARLY 2014. THIS SYSTEM IS UNDERACTUATED AND UNDERDAMPED AND ADVANCES IN CONTROL FOR THIS PLATFORM SHOULD TRANSLATE WELL TO SYSTEMS WITH SIMILAR DYNAMICS. FURTHERMORE THE ROBUSTNESS OF THIS PLATFORM TO IMPACT AND UNMODELED COLLISIONS WILL ENABLE US AS PART OF OUR PROPOSED RESEARCH TO DEVELOP CONTROLLERS FOR COLLABORATIVELY WORKING WITH OTHER SOFT ROBOTS OR PEOPLE IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS SPACE. THE PLATFORM ON WHICH WE ARE DEVELOPING OUR ALGORITHMS IS LIGHT-WEIGHT RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE AND CAN BE COMPACTLY STORED FOR TRANSPORTATION. THE RESULT OF OUR PROPOSED WORK WILL BE A SET OF CONTROL ALGORITHMS THAT WILL IMPROVE THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE AND RELEVANCE OF SOFT ROBOTS FOR FUTURE NASA MISSIONS. THE MAIN FOCUS OF OUR PROPOSAL CAN BE DESCRIBED AS: DEVELOP OPTIMAL CONTROL METHODS FOR UNDERDAMPED UNDERACTUATED SOFT ROBOTS THAT ALLOW FAST AND PRECISE MOTION DESPITE THE DIFFICULT NATURAL DYNAMICS OF THE SYSTEM. APPLY THESE CONTROL METHODS TO ACHIEVE UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCE IN REAL AND UNMODELED ENVIRONMENTS FOR SOFT ROBOT MANIPULATION AND LOCOMOTION. TEST THE CONTROLLERS WE DEVELOP IN REALISTIC AND USEFUL SCENARIOS (SUCH AS EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE OR INSTALLATION OR EXPLORATION OF RUGGED TERRAIN) THAT WILL HAVE WIDE APPLICABILITY TO FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS AS WELL AS OTHER CROSSCUTTING DOMAINS SUCH AS NATURAL DISASTER RELIEF OR SEARCH AND RESCUE MISSIONS. INITIAL TESTS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS WILL FOCUS ON ROBOT MANIPULATION AND WILL INCLUDE 1) GRASPING UNKNOWN OBJECTS USING A LOW-DEGREEOF- FREEDOM COMPLIANT HAND AND 2) MANIPULATING UNMODELED COMPLIANT MATERIALS. TESTS IN THE THIRD YEAR WILL FOCUS ON APPLYING OUR NEW LOW-LEVEL SOFT ROBOT CONTROLLERS TO 1) PERFORM LOCOMOTION OVER ROUGH TERRAIN WITH A SOFT ROBOT QUADRUPED PLATFORM AND 2) PERFORM TASKS THAT REQUIRE MANIPULATION AND LOCOMOTION SIMULTANEOUSLY. OUR INITIAL APPROACH FOR CONTROL WHICH IS CALLED MPC USES AN EXPLICIT MODEL OF THE UNDERDAMPED AND UNDERACTUATED DYNAMICS AND SHOULD ALLOW FOR SMOOTH CONTROLLED MOTION WHILE ALSO FACILITATING THE ABILITY TO LEVERAGE THE UNDERDAMPED NATURE OF THE SYSTEM. THESE EXPECTATIONS COME FROM RESULTS OF OUR PRIOR WORK WITH MPC. OUR PROPOSED WORK WILL SIGNIFICANTLY EXTEND RESEARCH WHERE WE HAD DEVELOPED CONTROLLERS FOR RIGID ROBOTS WITH COMPLIANCE AT THE JOINTS AND TACTILE SENSING (SEE HTTP://YOUTU.BE/T8SZ-CO1ORE AND HTTP:// YOUTU.BE/OTPWNZ2GPPG). MPC ALSO ALLOWS THE DEFINITION OF HARD CONSTRAINTS SUCH AS ACTUATOR OR JOINT LIMITS. THIS MEANS THAT IN ADDITION TO THE NATURAL ROBUSTNESS OF SOFT ROBOTS TO UNMODELED CONTACT WE CAN ALSO EXPLICITLY DEFINE ADDITIONAL CONSTRAINTS FOR OUR ROBOT SUCH AS PROXIMITY TO PEOPLE OR MAXIMUM CONTACT FORCE. THE ABILITY TO MOVE QUICKLY WHILE COMPENSATING FOR OSCILLATION AND RESPECTING IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS WILL BE A FOUNDATIONAL CAPABILITY FOR MANIPULATION AND MOBILITY WITH SOFT ROBOTS.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: WIDE-FIELD L-BAND FOCAL PLANE ARRAY BEAMFORMER FOR PULSAR, DIFFUSE HYDROGEN, AND FAST TRANSIENT SURVEYS ON THE GBT

CAREER: CONNECTING MATHEMATICAL MODELS ACROSS SCALES

ULTRACOLD NEUTRAL PLASMAS AS HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PLASMA SIMULATORS

TAS::57 3600::TAS "A NOVEL ALGORITHM FOR TRACKING MULTIPLE TARGETS WITH SIGNIFICANT BACKGROUND CLUTTER,"

THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPOSAL ENTITLED. "EFFECTIVE USE OF PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE TO HELP ENGINEERING TEAMS MANAGE CO

THE ROLE OF LOCAL SLEEP DISTURBANCE IN OBESITY RISK: A SLEEP NEUROIMAGING STUDY - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT WITH OBESITY PREVALENCE AT NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN INCIDENCES, THERE IS AN IMPERATIVE NEED TO IDENTIFY MODIFIABLE BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGIC TARGETS TO REDUCE OBESOGENIC RISK FACTORS. POOR SLEEP IS A MODIFIABLE THERAPEUTIC TARGET THAT RECENT NEUROIMAGING RESEARCH INDICATES PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN OBESITY. HOWEVER, THE MECHANISMS THAT DRIVE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POOR SLEEP AND OBESITY ARE ELUSIVE AND UNCLEAR. NEW AND ADVANCED NEUROIMAGING AND SLEEP METHODS HOLD PROMISE IN HELPING TO DETERMINE WHEN AND HOW POOR SLEEP IMPARTS RISK FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH DISORDERS GENERALLY AND OBESITY SPECIFICALLY. SLEEP NEUROIMAGING USES ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING TECHNIQUES CONCURRENT WITH POLYSOMNOGRAPHIC METHODS TO OBTAIN A CLEARER AND MORE DETAILED PICTURE OF BRAIN ACTIVATION PATTERNS THAT OCCURS DURING SLEEP; SUCH NOVEL INFORMATION CAN HELP ELUCIDATE PREVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED MECHANISMS LINKING SLEEP WITH OBESITY SO THAT THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS CAN BE MORE DIRECTLY TARGETED IN PREVENTION AND TREATMENT EFFORTS. THERE IS INCREASING REALIZATION THAT SLEEP, AND ITS RESTORATIVE FUNCTIONS, ARE REGIONALIZED PROCESSES LOCALIZED IN THE BRAIN AND CAN BECOME DISRUPTED REGIONALLY. IN OUR MODEL, WE PROPOSE THAT REGIONALIZED SLEEP DISTURBANCE PREVENTS RESTORATIVE BENEFIT TO THOSE REGIONS, THEREBY RESULTING IN DAYTIME IMPAIRMENTS SPECIFIC TO THOSE BRAIN REGIONS AFFECTED DURING SLEEP, A PROCESS CALLED LOCAL SLEEP DISTURBANCE. THIS COMPREHENSIVE SLEEP NEUROIMAGING STUDY INCLUDES GOLD-STANDARD MEASURES AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF ANALYSIS (E.G., DIM-LIGHT MELATONIN ONSET ASSESSMENT, POLYSOMNOGRAPHY, ACTIGRAPHY, AND SELF-REPORTED SLEEP QUESTIONNAIRES AND DIARIES) IN CONJUNCTION WITH FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE NEUROIMAGING DURING NON-RAPID EYE MOVEMENT SLEEP TO UNDERSTAND (AIM 1) HOW FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY DURING SLEEP RELATES TO OBESITY-RELATED OUTCOMES (I.E., DIETARY BEHAVIORS, SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR, NEURAL ACTIVATION IN BRAIN REGIONS ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD-RELATED REWARD AND INHIBITION), (AIM 2) HOW DIFFERENCES IN NETWORK-LEVEL FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY DURING SLEEP, AS A MARKER OF LOCAL SLEEP DISTURBANCE, MAY MEDIATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN POOR SLEEP AND OBESITY-RELATED OUTCOMES, AND (AIM 3) EXPLORE HOW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY DURING SLEEP AND OBESOGENIC RISK FACTORS DIFFER ACROSS INDIVIDUAL FACTORS INCLUDING DEVELOPMENTAL STATUS (ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS) AND SEX. THIS RESEARCH WILL USE INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGIES TO UNCOVER CRITICAL MECHANISMS THAT LINK POOR SLEEP WITH OBESITY, WHICH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO INFORM PRECLINICAL MODELS SLEEP HEALTH AND GENERAL WELLBEING. FURTHERMORE, THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR MERITORIOUS RESEARCH AT AN UNDERGRADUATE-FOCUSED INSTITUTION (BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY) BY PROVIDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WITH ADVANCED, ACTIVE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, ALL OF WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY STRENGTHEN THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT PRESENT AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY AND FEED THE SLEEP MEDICINE PIPELINE WITH WELL TRAINED AND EXPERIENCED INDIVIDUALS.

NR4A1 AND THE EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONAL BETA-CELL MASS - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT LOSS OF FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS IS A HALLMARK OF TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 DIABETES. INCREASING BETA CELL MASS COULD BE USED AS A TREATMENT FOR DIABETES. GLP1-R MEDIATED SIGNALING AND INHIBITION OF DYRK1A ACTIVITY ARE SUFFICIENT TO INCREASE FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS. NR4A1 IS ESSENTIAL FOR BETA CELL PROLIFERATION AND INSULIN SECRETION. RECENT FINDINGS FROM OUR LABORATORY DEMONSTRATE THAT GLP1-R SIGNALING RESULTS IN UPREGULATION OF NR4A1 IN THE BETA CELL. SIMILARLY, DYRK1A INHIBITION BY HARMINE, AND HARMINE DERIVED COMPOUNDS, RESULTS IN UPREGULATION OF THE NFAT FAMILY OF TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS. WE HAVE SHOWN THAT NFATC2 AND NFAC3 INDUCE NR4A1 EXPRESSION, AND THAT NR4A1 DELETION IMPAIRS NFATC2 MEDIATED BETA CELL PROLIFERATION. WHILE THESE DATA SUGGEST THAT NR4A1 IS ESSENTIAL FOR BOTH THE GLP-1R AND DYRK1A REGULATED BETA CELL PROLIFERATION PATHWAYS, AND SUGGEST AN ALTERNATIVE TARGET TO EXPAND FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS, THERE ARE FUNDAMENTAL GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING REGARDING NR4A1 IN THESE PATHWAYS, IN TERMS OF 1) THE NECESSITY OF NR4A1 IN EXENDIN 4 AND/OR HARMINE MEDIATED BETA CELL PROLIFERATION, INSULIN SECRETION, AND CELL SURVIVAL, 2) THE EFFECTS OF EXENDIN 4 AND/OR HARMINE ON NR4A1 GENE REGULATION IN TERMS OF BINDING PARTNER INTERACTIONS, GENOMIC LOCALIZATION, AND 3) HOW ENHANCING NR4A1 EXPRESSION AND ACTIVITY AFFECTS EXENDIN 4 AND/OR HARMINE MEDIATED BETA CELL PROLIFERATION. THESE GAPS HINDER THE RATIONALE DESIGN OF TARGETED THERAPIES TO IMPROVE FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS AS A TREATMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 DIABETES. THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF OUR RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE BETA CELL FUNCTION, PROLIFERATION AND SURVIVAL TO IMPROVE PATIENT OUTCOMES. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DETERMINE THE ROLE OF NR4A1 IN THE GLP1-R AND DYRK1A MEDIATED PATHWAYS THAT EXPAND FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS. OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT NR4A1 IS A KEY DOWNSTREAM THAT PERMITS MODULATION OF THE GLP1-R AND DYRK1A PATHWAYS TO ENHANCE FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS. GUIDED BY OUR PRELIMINARY DATA, THIS HYPOTHESIS WILL BE TESTED IN THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC AIMS: AIM 1: DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF NR4A1 IN GLP-1R AND DYRK1A MEDIATED FUNCTIONAL B-CELL MASS EXPANSION. AIM 2: DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF NR4A1 IN THE GLP-1R AND DYRK1A SIGNALING PATHWAY THAT LEADS TO FUNCTIONAL B-CELL MASS EXPANSION. AIM 3: DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF NR4A1 PHARMACOLOGICAL MODULATION ON GLP-1R AND DYRK1A MEDIATED B- CELL MASS EXPANSION. THE PROPOSAL IS INNOVATIVE BECAUSE IT ELUCIDATES NOVEL FUNCTIONS OF NR4A1 IN THESE TWO PROLIFERATIVE PATHWAYS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT FILLS FUNDAMENTAL GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF AN UNDERSTUDIED BETA CELL REGULATOR, NR4A1, ITS ROLE IN THESE CRITICAL PATHWAYS, AND HOW ITS MODULATION CAN ENHANCE FUNCTIONAL BETA CELL MASS.

OPTIMIZATION OF THERAPEUTIC PROTEIN PEGYLATION BY INTEGRATING COARSE-GRAIN SIMULATION AND CELL-FREE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS - ABSTRACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTEIN-BASED THERAPEUTICS HAS USHERED IN A NEW ERA OF PRECISION MEDICINE, DELIVERING HOPE AND HEALING TO MILLIONS FACING SEVERE AND LIFE-THREATENING CONDITIONS. UNFORTUNATELY, AS NATURAL BIOPOLYMERS, PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS HAVE FUNDAMENTAL LIMITATIONS COMPARED TO SMALL MOLECULE THERAPEUTICS. SPECIFICALLY, MOST PROTEINS FOUND OUTSIDE THEIR NATIVE LOCATION IN THE BODY ARE DEGRADED, RECOGNIZED BY THE IMMUNE SYSTEM, LOSE STABILITY/FUNCTION, OR ARE NATURALLY CLEARED—A FATAL FLAW FOR A THERAPEUTIC. TO OVERCOME THESE LIMITATIONS, THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS MAY BE FUNCTIONALIZED WITH CHEMICAL GROUPS TO OBSCURE THEIR IDENTITY OR INCREASE STABILITY. IN 1990, THE FDA FIRST APPROVED THE COVALENT ATTACHMENT OF THE POLYMER POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL (PEG) TO THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS TOWARDS THIS END. WHEN DONE PROPERLY, PEGYLATION IMPROVES THE PHARMACOKINETIC HALF-LIFE, PROVIDES SOME MASKING FROM THE IMMUNE SYSTEM, AND REDUCES SIDE EFFECTS DUE TO LOWER DOSAGE FREQUENCY. THE PROBLEM IS THAT PEG ATTACHMENT CAN ONLY BE DONE WITH CERTAIN AMINO ACIDS (E.G. LYSINE, N-TERMINUS), SO CONTROL IS VERY LIMITED. ADDITIONALLY, COVALENTLY ATTACHING A PEG MOLECULE TO A PROTEIN IS COMPLEX BECAUSE THIS CHEMICAL MODIFICATION ALTERS THE INTERACTIONS AND POSITIONS OF THE AMINO ACID SIDE CHAINS, DISRUPTING PROTEIN FUNCTION. THIS DISRUPTION COMMONLY OUTWEIGHS THE BENEFIT, SUCH THAT ONLY 3% OF FDA APPROVED THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS ARE PEGYLATED. THIS WORK SEEKS TO GREATLY EXPAND THE BENEFIT OF PEGYLATING PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS BY COMBINING STATE OF THE ART, COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT COARSE-GRAIN MOLECULAR SIMULATIONS WITH RAPID CELL-FREE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AND SITE- SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALIZATION. PRELIMINARY RESULTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THIS SIMULATION APPROACH CAN PREDICT WITH SIGNIFICANT ACCURACY THE OPTIMAL AMINO ACID AMONG THE HUNDREDS IN A PROTEIN TO TARGET FOR PEGYLATION. ADDITIONALLY, THE CELL-FREE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS APPROACH ALLOWS FOR SITE-SPECIFIC INCORPORATION OF A UNIQUELY FUNCTIONALIZED UNNATURAL AMINO ACID AT ANY DESIRED POSITION—A CAPABILITY WHICH ENABLES SITE-SPECIFIC OPTIMIZATION OF PEGYLATION AND IS CRUCIAL TO BROAD APPLICATION OF THE METHOD. USING A DESIGN-BUILD-TEST-LEARN STRATEGY, PARAMETERIZATION OF PEG-AMINO ACID INTERACTIONS WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE SIMULATION FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHICH IS HYPOTHESIZED TO GREATLY INCREASE ITS ACCURACY. THIS APPROACH WILL BE VALIDATED WITH TWO PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS WHICH HAVE NOT YET BEEN OPTIMALLY PEGYLATED (ONCONASE FOR MESOTHELIOMA/EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE TREATMENT AND CRISANTASPASE FOR ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA TREATMENT) TO IMPROVE THEIR EFFICACY BY INCREASING THEIR ACTIVITY, STABILITY AND RETENTION.

THE OPEN STORAGE RING: A MASS-MOBILITY SPECTROMETER FOR IN SITU CHARACTERIZATION OF PLANETARY ATMOSP

III: MEDIUM: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLOSING THE USER-MODEL LOOP FOR UNDERSTANDING TOPICS IN LARGE DOCUMENT COLLECTIONS

PRECISION-GUIDED GASTROINTESTINAL THERAPY: A CHEEK-TETHERED CAPSULE APPROACH FOR TARGETED IBD DISEASE TREATMENT - INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE (IBD) AFFECTS MILLIONS OF ADULTS, SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIRING QUALITY OF LIFE AND POSING SUBSTANTIAL CHALLENGES IN DIAGNOSIS, MONITORING, AND TREATMENT. CURRENT METHODS FOR ASSESSING AND TREATING IBD HAVE SIGNIFICANT LIMITATIONS, INCLUDING INVASIVE PROCEDURES, LACK OF LOCALIZED MONITORING, AND SUBOPTIMAL DRUG DELIVERY. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A NOVEL TETHERED CAPSULE SYSTEM FOR PRECISE, PROLONGED LOCALIZATION WITHIN THE GASTROINTESTINAL (GI) TRACT, ENABLING SITE-SPECIFIC MONITORING AND TARGETED THERAPY DELIVERY FOR IBD. THE LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO REVOLUTIONIZE IBD MANAGEMENT THROUGH THIS MINIMALLY INVASIVE PLATFORM. THE PROJECT WILL PURSUE THREE SPECIFIC AIMS: (1) DESIGN AND FABRICATE A TETHERED CAPSULE SYSTEM OPTIMIZED FOR PROLONGED GI RETENTION, (2) DESIGN AND EVALUATE A CHEEK ANCHORING AND RELEASE SYSTEM, AND (3) EVALUATE THE LOCALIZATION AND RETENTION CAPABILITIES OF THE SYSTEM IN A SYNTHETIC MODEL. THE RESEARCH WILL EMPLOY INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, INCLUDING A NOVEL TETHERED ODOMETRY MECHANISM FOR PRECISE POSITIONING, AN AUTO-HALTING NAVIGATION SYSTEM, AND A BIOCOMPATIBLE, DEGRADABLE TETHER. THE PROJECT WILL USE ADVANCED MECHANICAL DESIGN, MATERIALS SCIENCE, AND GASTROENTEROLOGY TO DEVELOP AND TEST THE SYSTEM. EXPECTED OUTCOMES INCLUDE A FULLY FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING LOCALIZATION WITHIN 2 CM OF TARGET SITES FOR 12 HOURS UNDER SIMULATED GI CONDITIONS. THIS TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM IBD MANAGEMENT BY ENABLING CONTINUOUS, SITE-SPECIFIC MONITORING AND TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY, POTENTIALLY IMPROVING TREATMENT EFFICACY, REDUCING SYSTEMIC SIDE EFFECTS, AND DECREASING HEALTHCARE COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH IBD. THIS RESEARCH ALIGNS WITH THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING'S MISSION TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IMPROVING HUMAN HEALTH. IT SUITS THE R15 ACADEMIC RESEARCH ENHANCEMENT AWARD (AREA) MECHANISM, WHICH STIMULATES RESEARCH IN INSTITUTIONS WITHOUT MAJOR NIH SUPPORT. CONDUCTED AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY, A PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION, THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND RELATED FIELDS. STUDENTS WILL GAIN SKILLS IN MEDICAL DEVICE DEVELOPMENT, DATA ANALYSIS, AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION THROUGH HANDS-ON INVOLVEMENT. THE PROJECT'S MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE WILL FOSTER CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL COLLABORATIONS, STRENGTHENING THE UNIVERSITY'S RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND CAPACITY FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. ITS FOCUS ON MENTORING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ALIGNS WITH THE R15 PROGRAM'S GOAL OF PREPARING A WORKFORCE FOR NATIONAL BIOMEDICAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND CLINICAL RESEARCH NEEDS.

REPURPOSING CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS FOR STRONG TERAHERTZ GENERATION

NO CATALYST REQUIRED: NEW THERMALLY-PROMOTED TRANSFORMATIONS OF IMINYL RADICALS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF COMPLEX MOLECULES -WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR STEVEN L. CASTLE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IS DEVELOPING NEW REACTION METHODOLOGY FOR SYNTHESIZING ORGANIC MOLECULES. THESE REACTIONS ARE TRIGGERED BY THERMAL ENERGY (I.E., MICROWAVE IRRADIATION OR CONVENTIONAL HEATING) AND DO NOT REQUIRE THE ADDITION OF EXTERNAL CATALYSTS. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS APPROACH WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER, MORE CONVENTIONAL STRATEGIES TO SIMILAR ENTITIES INCLUDE ITS SIMPLICITY, THE LACK OF EXPENSIVE OR EXTRAVAGANT REAGENTS OR CATALYSTS, THE SCOPE OF THE MOLECULES THAT CAN BE SUBJECTED TO AND GENERATED FROM THIS CHEMISTRY, AND THE RELATIVELY SHORT REACTION TIMES THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR INITIATION AND PRODUCT FORMATION. AS A RESULT, THESE NEW METHODS PROVIDE EFFICIENT SYNTHETIC ROUTES TO IMPORTANT CLASSES OF COMPOUNDS, INCLUDING SOME WITH POTENTIAL AS PHARMACEUTICALS. IN ADDITION TO DEVELOPING THE CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR CASTLE AND HIS STUDENTS PLAN TO ADVANCE STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS) EDUCATION BY CREATING LESSON PLANS THAT WILL HELP HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEACHERS TO INCORPORATE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY INTO THEIR COURSES. BY EXPOSING STUDENTS TO ORGANIC AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY FAR SOONER THAN THEY NORMALLY WOULD BE, IT IS HOPED THAT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP A DEEPER APPRECIATION FOR CHEMISTRY AND THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO CONSIDER PURSUING STEM PATHWAYS IN THEIR EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONALLY. THE STUDENTS THAT ARE DIRECTLY PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROJECT ARE RECEIVING TRAINING IN EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, TROUBLESHOOTING CHEMICAL REACTOINS, COMMUNICATION, AND CRITICAL THINKING THAT WILL PROVIDE THEM WITH VALUABLE TOOLS TO PURSUE CAREERS IN STEM FIELDS. UNDER THIS AWARD, PROFESSOR STEVEN CASTLE AND HIS RESEARCH GROUP WILL GENERATE IMINYL RADICALS UNDER THERMAL CONDITIONS BY INDUCING THE HOMOLYTIC CLEAVAGE OF RELATIVELY WEAK N-O BONDS THAT ARE PRESENT IN READILY AVAILABLE O-ARYL OXIME ETHERS. THIS PROCESS AFFORDS HIGH ENERGY IMINYL RADICALS THAT ARE CAPABLE OF UNDERGOING A VARIETY OF CHEMICAL TRANSFORMATIONS INCLUDING INTRAMOLECULAR PROCESSES. THESE INCLUDE CYCLIZATION REACTIONS WITH PENDANT ALKENES AND HYDROGEN ATOM ABSTRACTION REACTIONS WITH HYDROGENS THAT ARE A PRESCRIBED DISTANCE FROM THE IMINYL NITROGEN ATOM. THE RADICALS ARE ALSO CAPABLE OF BEING TRAPPED INTERMOLECULARLY TO FORGE NEW C-C, C-N, C-O, C-S, OR C-X (X = HALOGEN) BONDS. IN ADDITION TO STUDYING THE FUNDAMENTAL GENERATION AND REACTIVITY OF IMINYL RADICALS, THE UTILITY OF THIS METHODOLOGY IS TO BE DEMONSTRATED THROUGH THE PLANNED CONVERGENT SYNTHESIS OF FORTUNEICYCLIDIN, WITH IMINYL RADICAL CYCLIZATION BEING THE KEY STEP. THIS ARCHITECTURALLY NOVEL ALKALOID NATURAL PRODUCT HAS YET TO BE SYNTHESIZED IN THE LABORATORY AND THE PROPOSED ROUTE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DEMONSTRATE REAL UTILITY OF THE PROPOSED IMINYL RADICAL-BASED TANDEM CYCLIZATION CHEMISTRY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

TAS::57 3600::TAS "REACHING HIGHER GAMMA IN ULTRACOLD NEUTRAL PLASMAS THROUGH DISORDER-INDUCED HEATING CONTROL"

CROSS-MODALITY LOCALIZATION AND MAPPING

CAREER: BREAKTHROUGH DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY AS A NEW MEDIUM FOR SPATIAL THINKING IN STEM

THE ROLE OF MAB-5, A HOX TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR, IN ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING NEURONAL IDENTITY AND CONNECTIVITY - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT A NERVOUS SYSTEM REQUIRES A WIDE DIVERSITY OF CELL TYPES FOR AN ORGANISM TO PROPERLY FUNCTION. THIS DIVERSITY MUST BE BOTH ESTABLISHED DURING DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTAINED OVER THE LIFE OF AN ANIMAL. NEURONAL CELL TYPE IDENTITY IS CHARACTERIZED BY DISTINCT PATTERNS OF GENE EXPRESSION, MORPHOLOGY, CONNECTIVITY AND FUNCTION. THE NEURONS DERIVED FROM THE TWO Q NEUROBLASTS, QL AND QR, IN THE MODEL ORGANISM C. ELEGANS PROVIDE A GENETICALLY AND EXPERIMENTALLY ACCESSIBLE MODEL FOR ELUCIDATING MECHANISMS OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING NEURONAL CELL FATE AND CONNECTIVITY. THE Q NEUROBLASTS ULTIMATELY GENERATE THREE PAIRS OF NEURONS THROUGH IDENTICAL DIFFERENTIATION PATTERNS, WITH QL PRODUCING THREE NEURONS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ANIMAL (NAMED PQR, PVM AND SDQL), AND QR PRODUCING THREE NEURONS ON THE RIGHT (NAMED AQR, AVM, AND SDQR). FROM SINGLE- CELL RNA SEQUENCING EXPERIMENTS, WE HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE LEFT AND RIGHT NEURONS IN EACH OF THE THREE PAIRS ARE TRANSCRIPTIONALLY DISTINCT, DESPITE THEIR SIMILAR LINEAGES. ELECTRON MICROSCOPY RECONSTRUCTIONS SHOW THAT ALTHOUGH SDQL AND SDQR CONTACT SIMILAR SETS OF CELLS, THEY SYNAPSE ONTO DISTINCT POSTSYNAPTIC PARTNERS. THIS PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT MEMBERS OF EACH PAIR OF Q-DERIVED NEURONS (AQR/PQR, AVM/PVM AND SDQR/SDQL). PREVIOUS STUDIES AND OUR PRELIMINARY DATA HAVE SHOWN THAT THE HOX TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR MAB-5 (ANTP IN DROSOPHILA/HOX6-8 IN VERTEBRATES) IS EXPRESSED IN QL DESCENDENT BUT NOT QR DESCENDENT NEURONS. USING ENDOGENOUS REPORTERS OF NEUROPEPTIDE EXPRESSION, WE HAVE VALIDATED TRANSCRIPTIONAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SDQL AND SDQR. WE HAVE SHOWN THAT MAB-5, THE GENE ENCODING MAB-5, IS REQUIRED FOR THE BOTH THE INITIAL DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION OF THE NEUROPEPTIDE NLP-64 BETWEEN SDQR AND SDQL AND FOR MAINTAINING THIS DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION AFTER DEVELOPMENT. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT MAB-5 IS THE MAJOR TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR DRIVING TRANSCRIPTIONAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT MEMBERS OF ALL THREE Q-DERIVED NEURON PAIRS. WE ALSO HYPOTHESIZE THAT MAB-5 REGULATES THE DIFFERENCES IN THE POSTSYNAPTIC PARTNERS BETWEEN SDQR AND SDQL. IN AIM 1, WE WILL EXAMINE THE EFFECT OF MAB-5 DELETION AND ECTOPIC EXPRESSION IN QR-DERIVED NEURONS ON DOWNSTREAM GENE EXPRESSION, USING BOTH ENDOGENOUS REPORTERS THROUGHOUT DEVELOPMENT AND SINGLE-CELL RNA SEQUENCING TO ASSESS TRANSCRIPTOME WIDE DIFFERENCES IN MAB-5 LOSS OF FUNCTION MUTANTS. IN AIM 2, WE WILL USE THE AUXIN-INDUCIBLE DEGRON SYSTEM TO DEGRADE MAB-5 AFTER INITIAL DEVELOPMENT AND USE SINGLE-CELL RNA SEQUENCING TO DETECT TRANSCRIPTOME WIDE CHANGES. THIS WILL TEST OUR HYPOTHESIS THAT MAB-5 IS REQUIRED CONTINUOUSLY TO MAINTAIN CELL IDENTITY. IN AIM 3, WE WILL LABEL SDQ SYNAPSES AND TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT LOSS OF MAB-5 WILL CAUSE SDQL TO ACQUIRE SDQR-LIKE CONNECTIVITY AND ECTOPIC EXPRESSION OF MAB-5 WILL CAUSE SDQR TO ACQUIRE SDQL-LIKE CONNECTIVITY. OUR PROPOSED WORK WILL BROADEN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF CELL DIVERSITY AND SYNAPTIC SPECIFICITY.

PFI-TT: SCALE UP OF NEW MATERIALS THAT GENERATE TERAHERTZ-FREQUENCY LIGHT FOR ADVANCED SCANNING APPLICATIONS -THE BROADER IMPACT/COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL OF THIS PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION - TECHNOLOGY TRANSLATION (PFI-TT) PROJECT IS TO INTRODUCE NEW MATERIALS TO THE MARKET THAT GENERATE HIGH INTENSITY THZ-FREQUENCY LIGHT. THESE MATERIALS WILL MEET THE GROWING NEEDS OF MANY CURRENT AND EMERGING SCANNING AND SENSING APPLICATIONS THAT ARE LIMITED BY THE STRENGTH OF THZ-FREQUENCY LIGHT SOURCES. THE INTRODUCTION OF BRIGHTER THZ LIGHT SOURCES INTO CURRENT AND DEVELOPING SCANNERS WILL PROVIDE ENHANCED RESOLUTION AND SENSITIVITY IN A BROAD RANGE OF IMAGING AND SENSING APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING IN AIRPORT SCANNERS, MEDICAL IMAGING DEVICES, AND QUALITY CONTROL SCANNERS IN MANUFACTURING. THESE RESULTS WILL EXPAND THE IMPACT OF THZ-FREQUENCY SCANNERS, WHICH ARE SAFE (NON-IONIZING RADIATION) AND CAN PROVIDE UNIQUE INFORMATION IN MANY SCANNING, MEDICAL IMAGING, AND SENSING APPLICATIONS. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO TRAIN A DIVERSE GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE, AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS IN THE FIELD OF MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. THE PROPOSED PROJECT INVOLVES THE SCALE UP OF NEWLY DISCOVERED ORGANIC MATERIALS CAPABLE OF GENERATING HIGH INTENSITY TERAHERTZ-FREQUENCY LIGHT. SCANNING AND IMAGING INSTRUMENTS THAT EMPLOY TERAHERTZ-FREQUENCY LIGHT ARE SAFER THAN MANY COMMON X-RAY BASED SCANNERS YET ARE OFTEN LIMITED BY THE LACK OF BRIGHT TERAHERTZ-LIGHT SOURCES. THE ORGANIC NEW MATERIALS BEING PRODUCED FOR COMMERCIALIZATION IN THIS PROPOSAL PROVIDE NEARLY DOUBLE THE THZ LIGHT OUTPUT FROM CURRENT COMMERCIAL SOURCES. THE SCALE UP AND GROWTH OF LARGER TERAHERTZ-GENERATING CRYSTALS WILL MEET THE GROWING DEMANDS OF COMPANIES AND RESEARCHERS WHO ARE DEVELOPING NEW TERAHERTZ-BASED TECHNOLOGIES AND WHO REQUIRE BRIGHTER TERAHERTZ SOURCES. ORGANIC MATERIALS GENERALLY HAVE LIMITED LIFETIMES DUE TO DECOMPOSITION UNDER AMBIENT CONDITIONS. ON THIS PROJECT, COMMERCIALIZATION OF OUR PROTOTYPE LAYERED CRYSTAL STRUCTURES WILL BOTH ENHANCE THZ OUTPUT AND MINIMIZE CRYSTAL DAMAGE DURING TERAHERTZ LIGHT GENERATION. THESE MORE ROBUST SOURCES OF TERAHERTZ LIGHT WILL ENABLE THE USE OF ORGANIC TERAHERTZ LIGHT SOURCES IN SCANNERS AND IMAGERS THAT PREVIOUSLY COULD NOT EMPLOY THIS TECHNOLOGY DUE TO THE SHORT LIFETIME OF ORGANIC CRYSTALS. IN COMBINATION, THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES WILL FACILITATE RAPID GROWTH IN THE TERAHERTZ SCANNER SECTOR, ENABLING SAFER AND MORE SENSITIVE SCANNING AND IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

THE ENERGETICS AND DYNAMICS OF FLEXIBLE FRAMEWORKS AND MOLECULAR CONFINEMENT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ARCTIC STREAM NETWORKS AS NUTRIENT SENSORS IN PERMAFROST ECOSYSTEMS

THEORY OF MAIN-GROUP, P-BLOCK HYDROCARBON FUNCTIONALIZATION REACTIONS

AWARD AS A RESULT OF FOA NUMBER DE-FOA-0002265, INTEGRATED UNIVERSITY PROGRAM - SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP SUPPORT.

CONNECTING ANALYSES OF INSTALLED TACTICAL JET ENGINE NOISE WITH SIMULATED AND LABORATORY-SCALE DATA

IN-DEPTH AND LABEL-FREE PROTEOME PROFILING OF HUNDREDS OF SINGLE CELLS PER DAY - PROJECT SUMMARY CANCER TISSUES EXHIBIT A HIGH DEGREE OF PHENOTYPIC HETEROGENEITY AND PLASTICITY, WITH CANCEROUS TISSUES COMPRISING MANY DIFFERENT SUBPOPULATIONS OF CELLS IN VARIOUS STATES. QUANTIFYING THIS HETEROGENEITY AT THE SINGLE- CELL LEVEL AND WITH MOLECULAR DEPTH ACROSS LARGE NUMBERS OF CELLS PROVIDES INFORMATION THAT CANNOT BE OBTAINED FROM BULK STUDIES AND THAT WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD TO IMPROVED DIAGNOSTICS AND MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. WHILE SINGLE-CELL SEQUENCING APPROACHES ARE HAVING A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON CANCER RESEARCH, PROTEINS MEDIATE THE BULK OF CELLULAR FUNCTION AND ARE THE TARGETS OF MOST THERAPEUTICS. GIVEN THAT A COMPELLING BODY OF LITERATURE HAS SHOWN THAT THE CORRELATION BETWEEN RNA AND PROTEIN ABUNDANCE IS AT BEST POOR TO MODERATE, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR LARGE-SCALE UNBIASED DIRECT PROTEOME PROFILING AT THE SINGLE-CELL LEVEL. TO FILL THIS GAP, MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS)-BASED PROFILING OF PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN SINGLE CELLS HAS VERY RECENTLY BECOME A REALITY DUE TO MORE EFFICIENT SAMPLE PROCESSING WORKFLOWS, NOVEL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS AND IMPROVED INSTRUMENT SENSITIVITY. LABEL-FREE MS-BASED PROTEOMICS CAN CURRENTLY QUANTIFY UP TO 1500 PROTEIN GROUPS PER CELL ACROSS >4 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE OF DYNAMIC RANGE, BUT THROUGHPUT HAS BEEN LIMITED TO ~24 SAMPLES PER DAY. THIS LOW THROUGHPUT IS INADEQUATE TO PERFORM THE LARGE-SCALE STATISTICALLY POWERED STUDIES REQUIRED TO CHARACTERIZE HETEROGENEITY IN CANCER CELL POPULATIONS. TO INCREASE MEASUREMENT THROUGHPUT, MULTIPLEXED WORKFLOWS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED BASED ON ISOBARIC TANDEM MASS TAGS (TMTS) THAT ENABLE >10 SINGLE CELLS TO BE MEASURED IN AN LC-MS ANALYSIS, BUT THESE SUFFER FROM A NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT DRAWBACKS INCLUDING ISOTOPIC CONTAMINATION, DEGRADED QUANTITATIVE ACCURACY WHEN EMPLOYING A CARRIER CHANNEL, PRECURSOR COISOLATION WITH CONCOMITANT RATIO COMPRESSION, CHEMICAL NOISE RESULTING FROM CROSS-REACTIVITIES OF TMT REAGENTS WITH CONTAMINANTS, ETC. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A PLATFORM THAT EXCEEDS THE THROUGHPUT OF CURRENT TMT-BASED WORKFLOWS WHILE PRESERVING THE DEPTH OF COVERAGE AND DYNAMIC RANGE OF LABEL-FREE WORKFLOWS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT A ROBUST MULTICOLUMN ULTRA-HIGH-PERFORMANCE NANOLC SYSTEM WITH A 5-MINUTE PEPTIDE ELUTION WINDOW AND A 100% DUTY CYCLE, COMBINED WITH NOVEL MS1-LEVEL PROTEIN IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION, WILL ENABLE LABEL-FREE PROFILING OF >2000 PROTEIN GROUPS PER CELL AT A THROUGHPUT OF UP TO 288 SAMPLES PER DAY, THUS PROVIDING A PROVIDING A CAPABILITY FOR DIRECT, IN-DEPTH AND LARGE-SCALE PROTEIN QUANTIFICATION THAT IS ANALOGOUS TO SINGLE-CELL RNA-SEQ. STUDIES IN AIM 1 WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING HIGH-PEAK-CAPACITY FAST NANOLC SEPARATIONS, AS WELL AS A NOVEL SORBENT-COATED SAMPLE-LOOP PROVIDING DESALTING AND DEBRIS REMOVAL FOR ROBUST LONG-TERM OPERATION. IN AIM 2 WE WILL DEVELOP A 4-COLUMN LC PLATFORM BASED ON THESE RAPID SEPARATIONS AND A PRIMARILY MS1-BASED ACQUISITION WORKFLOW TO INCREATE DUTY CYCLE TO 100% AND MAXIMIZE COVERAGE IN THESE RAPID ANALYSES. WE WILL APPLY THIS TECHNOLOGY TO CD138+ SINGLE CELLS ISOLATED FROM MULTIPLE MYELOMA PATIENTS TO PREDICT RESPONSE TO IMMUNOMODULATORY IMIDE DRUGS (IMIDS). THIS PROJECT WILL ESTABLISH AN INNOVATIVE MEASUREMENT CAPABILITY FOR INDIVIDUALIZING CANCER THERAPY.

MODELS FOR MATERIAL DAMPING OF POWDERS IN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED METAL PARTS -THIS AWARD SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT LOOKS TO DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE 3D PRINTED PARTS THAT ABSORB CONSIDERABLY MORE VIBRATION THAN EXISTING METALS, THEREBY PROMOTING THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, AND ADVANCING PROSPERITY AND WELFARE. ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING HAS RECENTLY GAINED POPULARITY FOR PRODUCING METAL PARTS. USING THIS PROCESS, PARTS ARE CREATED ONE LAYER AT A TIME FROM A BED OF METAL POWDER BY USING A LASER TO MELT AND FUSE THE METAL AT CERTAIN LOCATIONS. ANY POWDER THAT IS NOT FUSED IS TYPICALLY WASHED FROM THE FINISHED PARTS. HOWEVER, METAL MATERIALS THAT CAN BE USED FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING HAVE VERY LOW VIBRATION DAMPING. THIS LIMITS THE PERFORMANCE THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WHEN DYNAMIC LOADS OR ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE IS IMPORTANT. THIS PROJECT WILL SOLVE THIS CHALLENGE BY DESIGNING PARTS SUCH THAT THEY RETAIN POCKETS OF TRAPPED METAL POWDER, WHICH CAN BE DESIGNED TO INCREASE THE PARTS ABILITY TO ABSORB VIBRATION, REDUCING STRESSES AND THE NOISE THAT THEY GENERATE. THIS CAN DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE LIFE OF PARTS USED IN AUTOMOTIVE, AEROSPACE OR CONSUMER APPLICATIONS, IMPROVING SAFETY FOR PASSENGERS AND END USERS. THE ABILITY TO TAILOR DAMPING ON DEMAND COULD ALSO ENABLE ENGINEERS TO DESIGN SYSTEMS WITH UNPRECEDENTED ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE, IMPROVING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCTS. BEYOND TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT, THIS METHOD IS EXPECTED TO BE READILY ADOPTED BY INDUSTRY THROUGH THE OFFERING OF SHORT COURSES TO PRACTICING ENGINEERS. PLANS ARE ALSO PRESENTED FOR INCLUDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS FROM UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS IN THE RESEARCH. THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO MAKE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO EXPAND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ABILITY OF TRAPPED POWDERS TO DISSIPATE ENERGY WITHIN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED PARTS. THE WORK INCLUDES BOTH AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPONENT AND A MODELING COMPONENT. IN THE EXPERIMENTAL COMPONENT, VARIOUS PARTS WILL BE CREATED AND TESTED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SHAPES PRODUCE THE MOST VIBRATION ABSORPTION AND THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY ABSORB VIBRATION. BOTH LINEAR AND NONLINEAR DYNAMIC TESTING METHODS WILL BE USED TO CHARACTERIZE THE LINEAR MODAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PARTS AS WELL AS NONLINEAR BEHAVIORS THAT CHANGE THE APPARENT STIFFNESS AND DAMPING OF THE VARIOUS MODES. IN THE MODELING COMPONENT, A MULTI-FACETED CAMPAIGN WILL BE CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY A MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR METAL POWDERS AND METHODS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVE MATERIAL PROPERTIES. THE POWDERS OF INTEREST CONTAIN BILLIONS OF PARTICLES THAT ARE GOVERNED BY COMPLICATED AND UNKNOWN INTERACTION LAWS, AND HENCE MODELING THEM USING FIRST PRINCIPLES IS NOT CURRENTLY FEASIBLE. THIS WORK PLANS TO DERIVE AN EQUIVALENT, HOMOGENIZED MODEL FOR METAL POWDERS, SO THEY CAN BE TREATED AS ELASTIC OR PLASTIC SOLIDS WITHIN A FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF THE PART OF INTEREST, WITH A FOCUS ON CAPTURING THE EFFECTIVE STIFFNESS AND DAMPING OF THE POWDERS. THIS SIMPLIFIES THE MATERIAL MODEL AND MAKES IT FEASIBLE TO DEDUCE THE PROPERTIES OF THE POWDER FROM SIMPLE TEST COUPONS THAT EXERCISE POWDER POCKETS IN ELONGATION AND SHEAR IN MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS. MEASUREMENTS OF THE VIBRATION AMPLITUDE-DEPENDENT STIFFNESS AND DAMPING OF THE TEST COUPONS WILL BE CORRELATED WITH FINITE ELEMENT MODELS THAT INCLUDE EITHER LINEAR VISCOELASTIC OR NONLINEAR PLASTIC POWDER MATERIAL BEHAVIOR. COMPUTATIONS WILL BE DRAMATICALLY ACCELERATED BY USING QUASI-STATIC MODAL ANALYSIS, WHICH ALLOWS FOR DYNAMIC PROPERTIES TO BE INFERRED FROM A FEW CAREFULLY CHOSEN NONLINEAR STATIC LOAD-DISPLACEMENT CURVES. THIS PROJECT IS JOINTLY FUNDED BY THE DYNAMICS, CONTROL AND SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS (DCSD) PROGRAM, AND THE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING (AM) PROGRAM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

GEOGLOWS SEEKS TO ENABLE EARTH SCIENTISTS TO SOLVE THE CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH ACHIEVING GLOBAL WATER SUSTAINABILITY. PROVIDING AMPLE CLEAN WATER IS ALSO AN ELEMENT OF THE UN S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND IS CROSS-CUTTING WITH OTHER ELEMENTS INCLUDING FOOD SECURITY CLIMATE HEALTH ENERGY AND LIFE BELOW WATER AND ON LAND. EARTH OBSERVATIONS PROVIDE A CRITICAL AND EXPANDING RESOURCE TO THE GROUP ON EARTH OBSERVATIONS (GEO) COMMUNITY AND ARE VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF ACHIEVING IMPORTANT GEO OBJECTIVES. AS EARTH SCIENCE DATA INCREASE IN AVAILABILITY FREQUENCY AND RESOLUTION THERE IS A GROWING NEED FOR FLEXIBLE DATA ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTS THAT EMPOWER USERS TO EXPLORE ANALYZE AND MODEL EARTH OBSERVATION DATA IN A SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENT. HERE WE PROPOSE A CRITICAL PIECE OF EARTH SCIENCE CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE (CI) FOR THE GEOGLOWS AND LARGER GEO SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM TO OVERCOME THE LIMITATIONS OF STORAGE PROCESSING SPEED TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH AND PLATFORM DEPENDENCY ASSOCIATED WITH DESKTOP COMPUTING. HIGHLY INTERACTIVE USER-FRIENDLY WEB APPLICATIONS OR WEB APPS SERVE A KEY ROLE ACTING AS A MEDIUM FOR VISUALIZING AND CONVEYING SCIENTIFIC DATA TO STAKEHOLDERS AND DECISION-MAKERS. SUCH WEB APPS CAN PROVIDE ACCESS TO COMPLEX COMPUTATIONAL BACK-END SERVICES DISTRIBUTED DATA REPOSITORIES AND THEIR CONNECTED MODELING SYSTEMS. DESPITE THIS POTENTIAL THE TECHNICAL EXPERTISE REQUIRED TO DEVELOP WEB APPS REPRESENTS A FORMIDABLE BARRIER FOR MOST RESEARCHERS FROM THE GEO COMMUNITY. WE HAVE DEVELOPED THE OPEN SOURCE TETHYS PLATFORM WHICH IN TURN HAS BEEN USED TO DEVELOP DECISION SUPPORT WEB APPS FOR THE NASA-SERVIR AND NASA-ACCESS PROGRAMS NOAA S NEW NATIONAL WATER MODEL AND IN AMERIGEOSS CAPACITY-BUILDING WORKSHOPS. WE WILL BUILD ON THE EXISTING TETHYS CI TO CREATE AN AMERIGEOSS APP WAREHOUSE FOR RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF OPEN SOURCE HYDROINFORMATICS APPS FOR MANAGING AND USING ESSENTIAL WATER RESOURCES VARIABLES IN SUPPORT OF THE GEOGLOWS INITIATIVE. OUR SPONSORS AND COLLABORATORS AT THE USGS FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMISSION (FGDC) HAVE ALREADY IDENTIFIED TETHYS PLATFORM AS A RESOURCE FOR THE AMERIGEOSS PORTAL CURRENTLY UNDER THEIR DEVELOPMENT. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER WITH THE FGDC TO SUCCESSFULLY INTEGRATE OUR SOLUTION INTO THEIR EXISTING AMERIGEOSS AND/OR GEOPLATFORM PORTALS. AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF THE AMERIGEOSS APP WAREHOUSE WILL BE THE ABILITY TO NOT ONLY DISCOVER AND INSTALL EXISTING APPS BUT ALSO TO CONTRIBUTE APPS THAT ARE DEVELOPED BY AN EVERGROWING COMMUNITY OF EARTH SCIENTISTS. TO DEMONSTRATE THE UTILITY OF OUR SOLUTION AND PROVIDE A CASE STUDY FOR CAPACITY-BUILDING WE WILL WORK WITH COLLABORATORS ON AN EXISTING NASA ROSES PROJECT FOCUSED ON USING EARTH OBSERVATIONS FOR IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT. THIS COLLABORATION WILL ENHANCE THE OUTCOMES OF THEIR PROJECT BY PROVIDING VISUALIZATION AND DECISION MAKING TOOLS IN SUPPORT OF VITAL SDGS RELATED TO WATER AND FOOD SECURITY AT BOTH REGIONAL AND LOCAL SCALES. THE TETHYS-POWERED AMERIGEOSS APP WAREHOUSE PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE OUTCOMES: 1. WHILE TARGETING THE GEOGLOWS ESSENTIAL WATER VARIABLES GEO PROGRAM ELEMENT IT IS CROSS-CUTTING AND ACHIEVES DEMONSTRABLE PROGRESS AND RESULTS FOR AMERIGEOSS GLOBAL FLOOD RISK MONITORING AND OTHER GEO WORK PROGRAM ELEMENTS. 2. ADVANCES THE USE OF EARTH OBSERVATIONS IN DECISION MAKING WITH IMPACTS ON MULTIPLE PREVIOUSLY AND ONGOING FUNDED PROJECTS OF NASA AND OTHER USGEO PARTNERS. 3. SIGNIFICANT LIKELIHOOD OF ACHIEVING A HIGH APPLICATION READINESS LEVEL THROUGH PARTNERING WITH THE FGDC TO INTEGRATE WITHIN THE AMERIGEOSS PORTAL. 4. INCREASE INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION AND BROADEN USGEO INVOLVEMENT. 5. BRING TOOLS PREVIOUSLY CREATED AND DEVELOP OTHERS THAT ENHANCE THE ABILITY OF US AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ANALYZE AND ADDRESS NEEDS RELATIVE TO MULTIPLE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS.

CAREER: BLENDING DEEP REINFORCEMENT LEARNING AND PROBABILISTIC PROGRAMMING

IUCRC BYU V-CAX RESEARCH SITE FOR THE CENTER FOR E-DESIGN I/UCRC

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COLLABORATION IN THE FUTURE OF WORK: DEVELOPING PLAYABLE CASE STUDIES TO IMPROVE STEM CAREER PATHWAYS

CAREER: INVERSE ORIGAMI: GENERALIZED POSE-NORMALIZATION FOR LARGE-SCALE FINE-GRAINED RECOGNITION

SWARMS, COLONIES, AND HUMAN ORGANIZATIONS: TOWARDS A SCIENCE OF MANAGED BIO-INSPIRED COLLECTIVES

TWC: SMALL: MIDDLEWARE FOR CERTIFICATE-BASED AUTHENTICATION

CAREER: ORIGAMI-INSPIRED RECONFIGURABLE SURFACES THAT ENABLE CONTROLLABLE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES

BIOFUELS THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES

CREATING AND USING SOCIAL IMPACT MODELS FOR ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

SIMULATION OF DYNAMIC COASTAL SCENES FOR SEMANTIC AUTONOMY

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSED WORK ARE: 1. CAREFULLY CHARACTERIZE THE TOOL/PART INTERFACE FOR FRICTION STIR WELDING OF HIGH STRENGTH ALUMINUM ALLOYS USING A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT. 2. DEVELOP A MODEL OF LOCAL FLOW STRESSES AT THE TOOL/PART INTERFACE USING THE DATA FROM OBJECTIVE #1. 3. INTEGRATE THE INTERFACE MODEL INTO A PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF THE FSW PROCESS. 4. VALIDATE THE FSW MODEL RESULTS FOR TORQUE REACTIVE LOAD AND TEMPERATURES FOR STANDARD FSW TOOLS AND FOR A SELF-REACTING FSW TOOL. IN PRIOR EFFORTS THE FRICTION LEVEL HAS BEEN AN ADJUSTABLE PARAMETER USED TO "TUNE" A FINITE ELEMENT MODEL FOR FSW. HOWEVER THIS SIMPLE TUNING APPROACH NEGLECTS THE UNDERLYING PHYSICS AT THE INTERFACE AND DOES NOT PROVIDE ACCURATE PREDICTIONS FOR ALL OF THE CRITICAL PHENOMENA THAT WOULD RENDER THE MODEL TRULY PREDICTIVE AND USEFUL FOR DEVELOPMENT. FOR EXAMPLE IF THE MODEL IS "TUNED" FOR AN ACCURATE PREDICTION OF TEMPERATURES THEN THE REACTIVE LOAD IS OFTEN OVERESTIMATED. THIS RESULTS IN INACCURATE STRESS PREDICTIONS WITHIN THE PART. THE PHYSICS AND MECHANICS OF HEAT GENERATION AND MATERIAL DEFORMATION AT THE SCALES AND TEMPERATURES AT WHICH THEY OCCUR IN FSW HAS NOT BEEN ADEQUATELY STUDIED AND UNDERSTOOD. WHILE THE FLOW STRESS IN THE BULK MATERIAL CAN BE CHARACTERIZED BY TENSION TESTING COMPRESSION TESTING OR TORSION TESTING THE INTERFACE MATERIAL FLOW STRESS UNDERGOES LARGE AMOUNTS OF SHEAR AND THEREFORE RECRYSTALLIZATION WHICH CAN DRAMATICALLY INFLUENCE THE LOCAL FLOW STRESS. RATHER THAN TRYING TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION AT THE INTERFACE OUR APPROACH WILL BE TO DEVELOP A SIMPLE EXPERIMENT THAT WILL ALLOW FOR CHARACTERIZING THE LOCAL FLOW STRESSES AT THE INTERFACE WHICH ARE THE PRIMARY DATA NEEDED FOR ACCURATE MODELING WITHOUT THE NEED FOR "TUNING" BY FREQUENT ADJUSTMENT OF A FRICTION COEFFICIENT. DATA FROM THE EXPERIMENT WILL BE USED AS INPUT TO AN INVERSE PARAMETER IDENTIFICATION SCHEME THAT WILL PROVIDE LOCAL FLOW STRESSES IN WHAT WE ARE CALLING THE "HEAT GENERATION ZONE" (HGZ). IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING TASKS WILL BE CARRIED OUT: 1. FLAT PINLESS FSW TOOLS WILL BE ROTATED AT DIFFERENT RPM AND REACTIVE LOADS IN AA 2219. TWO DIFFERENT TOOLING MATERIALS WILL BE EMPLOYED IN ORDER TO INTRODUCE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF FRICTION AT THE INTERFACE. THERMOCOUPLES WILL BE EMBEDDED IN THE AL PLATE TO MEASURE TEMPERATURES NEAR THE INTERFACE. THEY WILL ALSO BE EMBEDDED IN THE TOOL. DATA COMING OUT OF THE EXPERIMENT WILL BE TORQUE REACTIVE LOAD AND TEMPERATURES IN THE PLATE AND THE TOOL. 2. A FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF THE FLAT PINLESS TOOL EXPERIMENT WILL BE DEVELOPED AND COUPLED WITH AN INVERSE PARAMETER ANALYSIS ALGORITHM TO MODEL THE LOCAL FLOW STRESSES IN THE HGZ. 3. THE LOCAL FLOW STRESS RELATIONSHIP FROM TASK #2 WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO AN EULERIAN FINITE ELEMENT MODEL OF FSW DEVELOPED IN PRIOR EFFORTS BY THE PIS. 4. THE FSW MODEL WILL BE VALIDATED BY EXPERIMENTS SUCH THAT TEMPERATURES REACTIVE WELDING LOAD AND WELDING TORQUE ARE ALL PREDICTED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH REASONABLE ACCURACY (5%). INITIAL VALIDATION WILL BE WITH A SMOOTH TOOL. AFTER APPROPRIATE AGREEMENT ON A SMOOTH TOOL A TOOL WITH A THREADED PIN WILL BE EMPLOYED IN THE MODEL AND VALIDATED BY EXPERIMENT. FINALLY A SELF-REACTING FSW TOOL WILL BE MODELED AND VALIDATED BY EXPERIMENT. MODEL RESULTS WILL BE USED TO PREDICT MECHANICAL PROPERTIES IN THE HEAT AFFECTED ZONE OF THE WELD. THE PROPOSED APPROACH WOULD PROVIDE NASA WITH A METHOD FOR CHARACTERIZING INTERFACE BEHAVIOR FOR A GIVEN ALLOY AND TOOL MATERIAL. THIS INTERFACE BEHAVIOR IS ESSENTIAL TO ACCURATE MODELING. FSW MODELS USING ACCURATE INTERFACE BEHAVIOR WILL BE MORE PREDICTIVE AND USEFUL FOR THE RAPID OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS AND TOOL DESIGNS.

TAS::97 0400::TAS SCALABLE PROBABILISTIC PROGRAMMING FOR LEARNING AND ACTING IN COMPLEX DOMAINS

SATC: CORE: SMALL: USABLE KEY MANAGEMENT AND FORWARD SECRECY FOR SECURE EMAIL

THE ROLES OF GENETICALLY DISTINCT CORTICAL NEURON TYPES IN GENERAL-ANESTHESIA- AND SLEEP-INDUCED SLOW WAVES - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT. REVERSIBLE LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS A CRUCIAL PART OF TWO MAJOR MEDICAL FIELDS: GENERAL ANESTHESIA AND SLEEP. GENERAL ANESTHETICS AND NON-RAPID-EYE-MOVEMENT (NREM) SLEEP BOTH INDUCE SLOW WAVES (0.1-4 HZ) IN THE CORTICAL ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG). IT IS UNKNOWN WHETHER SLOW WAVES GENERATED WITH DIFFERENT ANESTHETIC AGENTS AND DURING NREM SLEEP ARE GENERATED WITH THE SAME NEURAL CIRCUIT ACTIVITY. DR. MELONAKOS’ PRELIMINARY DATA SUGGESTS THAT ANESTHETIC AGENTS WITH DIFFERENT MOLECULAR TARGETS HAVE DISTINCT SLOW WAVE MECHANISMS (AIM 1 HYPOTHESIS). IN ADDITION, ALTHOUGH DEXMEDETOMIDINE ANESTHESIA SHARES NEURAL CIRCUITS WITH NREM SLEEP, IT MAY ALSO HAVE DISTINCT DIRECT CORTICAL EFFECTS, POSSIBLY LEADING TO DIFFERENT SLOW WAVE ACTIVITY (AIM 2 HYPOTHESIS). THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO TEST THESE HYPOTHESES BY MAPPING CORTICAL NEURAL ACTIVITY WITH RESPECT TO THE EEG SLOW WAVES OF BOTH ANESTHESIA AND NREM SLEEP. IN ORDER TO DO THIS, DR. MELONAKOS WILL LEARN HOW TO PERFORM CALCIUM IMAGING EXPERIMENTS IN FREELY BEHAVING RODENTS. HE WILL THEN RECORD CALCIUM IMAGES FROM CA2+/CALMODULIN-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE IIA-POSITIVE (CAMKIIA+), PARVALBUMIN-POSITIVE (PV+), SOMATOSTATIN-POSITIVE (SST+), AND VASOACTIVE INTESTINAL PEPTIDE-POSITIVE (VIP+) CORTICAL NEURONS DURING ANESTHESIA- AND SLEEP-INDUCED SLOW WAVES. PROPOFOL, KETAMINE, AND DEXMEDETOMIDINE ANESTHESIA WILL BE TESTED. DR. MELONAKOS WILL THEN COMPARE THE NEURAL ACTIVITY BETWEEN THE ANESTHETICS AND BETWEEN GENERAL ANESTHESIA AND SLEEP. FINALLY, HE WILL IDENTIFY THE ROLE OF SST+ NEURONS IN SLOW WAVES (AIM 3 HYPOTHESIS) BY (1) LOOKING AT THE ACTIVITY OF CORTICAL NEURONS FOLLOWING DISRUPTION OF SLOW WAVES BY STIMULATION OF THE PARABRACHIAL NUCLEUS, AN AROUSAL AREA IN THE BRAINSTEM, AND (2) INHIBITING SST+ NEURONS DURING ANESTHESIA- AND SLEEP-INDUCED SLOW WAVES. DURING THE K99 PHASE OF THIS PROJECT, DR. MELONAKOS WILL BE MENTORED BY DRS. CHRISTA NEHS AND EMERY BROWN, EXPERTS IN ANESTHESIA AND SLEEP NEUROCIRCUITRY AND FACULTY AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL (MGH), AND MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT). DR. MELONAKOS WILL ALSO COLLABORATE WITH DRS. MICHAEL HASSELMO (BOSTON UNIVERSITY), NANCY KOPELL (BOSTON UNIVERSITY), AND DANIEL AHARONI (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES). HE WILL BE TRAINED IN CALCIUM IMAGING BY DRS. HASSELMO AND AHARONI, AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS BY DR. BROWN. DR. KOPELL WILL GUIDE DR. MELONAKOS AS HE ORIENTS HIS FINDINGS WITHIN HYPOTHESIZED SLOW WAVE MECHANISMS FROM THE FIELD OF COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE. DR. MELONAKOS WILL ALSO LEARN OPTOGENETICS STIMULATION TECHNIQUES FROM DR. NEHS AND IN A COURSE AT MIT. THE MENTORS, COLLABORATORS, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE MGH COMMUNITY WILL ALSO PROVIDE HIM WITH PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE AS HE NEARS INDEPENDENCE, INCLUDING TRAINING IN GRANT WRITING, PEER REVIEW, TEACHING, AND THE FACULTY JOB SEARCH. THE SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING DR. MELONAKOS RECEIVES WILL ENABLE HIM TO DEVELOP AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROGRAM TO STUDY ANESTHETICS’ DIRECT VS. INDIRECT EFFECTS. THE RESULTING UNDERSTANDING OF SLOW WAVE MECHANISMS HAS POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THE PROTOCOLS USED TO MONITOR GENERAL ANESTHESIA AND TREAT SLEEP DISORDERS, THUS BENEFITING PATIENT SAFETY AND HEALTH.

REACHING NEW HORIZONS IN IMINYL RADICAL CHEMISTRY VIA MICROWAVE IRRADIATION

COLLISION CROSS SECTION MEASUREMENTS USING FOURIER TRANSFORM ION CYCLOTRON RESONANCE TECHNIQUES

A CELL-FREE SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY APPROACH TO EXPAND THE LANGUAGE OF BIOLOGY

THE ROLE OF RADICAL-WATER COMPLEXES IN THE ATMOSPHERE

CAREER: CDS&E: QUANTIFYING & DESIGNING GRAIN BOUNDARY NETWORK STRUCTURE VIA SPECTRAL GRAPH THEORY

**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** QUINOA IS A NUTRITIOUS ANDEAN GRAIN THAT HAS DRAMATICALLY INCREASED IN INTERNATIONAL POPULARITY OVER THE PAST DECADE. UNFORTUNATELY, QUINOA WAS DOMESTICATED AT HIGH ELEVATIONS IN THE TITICACA BASIN OF THE ANDEAN ALTIPLANO AND THEREFORE DOESN&#39;T GROW WELL IN LOWLAND TROPICAL, SUBTROPICAL, AND WARM-SEASON TEMPERATE PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS, INCLUDING THOSE FOUND IN THE U.S. IN ORDER TO IMPROVE QUINOA PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, NEW VARIETIES ARE NEEDED THAT ARE ABLE TO TOLERATE THE NEW STRESSES THAT QUINOA WILL UNDOUBTEDLY ENCOUNTER AS ITS CULTIVATION SPREADS. THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INTRODUCE NEW GENETIC DIVERSITY INTO QUINOA FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL QUINOA BREEDING PROGRAMS. TO DO THIS, WE WILL TAKE TWO GENERAL APPROACHES: FIRST, CROSS QUINOA WITH WILD RELATIVES THAT ALREADY GROW WELL THROUGHOUT THE U.S. IN REGIONS IN WHICH QUINOA DOES NOT GROW WELL; AND SECOND, INDUCE MUTATIONS IN QUINOA THAT CAN HELP CREATE NEW VARIATION IN TRAITS OF INTEREST. THESE NEW QUINOA MATERIALS WITH INCREASED GENETIC DIVERSITY WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO BREEDERS AND GROWERS WHO CAN USE THEM TO DEVELOP NEW QUINOA VARIETIES THAT ARE ADAPTED TO ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH QUINOA DOES NOT CURRENTLY GROW WELL.

TELSAM POLYMERS ARE POWERFUL CRYSTALLIZATION CHAPERONES MERITING CONTINUED INVESTIGATION - THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED FOR NEW PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION METHODS THAT REQUIRE LESS LABOR, TIME, AND RESOURCES. PRE- VIOUSLY, CRYSTALS OF 10 OUT OF 11 TARGET PROTEINS WERE READILY GENERATED BY FUSING THEM TO TELSAM, A POLYMER- FORMING CRYSTALLIZATION CHAPERONE. THERE IS GREAT NEED FOR CONTINUED INVESTIGATION OF TELSAM DUE TO ITS POTENTIAL AS A GENERAL-USE PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION CHAPERONE. LACK OF STRAIGHTFORWARD METHODS TO SUCCESSFULLY CRYSTALLIZE ANY PROTEIN OF INTEREST SIGNIFICANTLY HINDERS STUDY OF MOLECULAR DISEASE MECHANISMS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. THE LACK OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR MANY DISEASES FORCES THEM TO BE ADDRESSED INSTEAD WITH COSTLY SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZA- TION METHODS THAT CAN RESULT IN WELL-ORDERED PROTEIN CRYSTALS ON A TIME SCALE OF LESS THAN A MONTH, COST AS LITTLE AS $1000 PER STRUCTURE, AND ARE SUCCESSFUL FOR GREATER THAN 70% OF PROTEINS OF INTEREST. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO CONVINCINGLY DEMONSTRATE THE BENEFITS OF USING TELSAM AS A PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION CHAPERONE AND TO CLEARLY DEFINE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR DOING SO. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT TELSAM WILL ACCELERATE THE SPEED AND SUCCESS RATE OF CRYSTALLIZATION ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF PROTEINS OF INTEREST AND THAT FLEXIBLE FUSION OF TARGET PROTEINS TO THE 1TEL VARIANT WILL BE OPTIMAL. THE RATIONALE IS THAT TELSAM HAS SHOWN GREAT PROMISE IN PRELIMINARY STUDIES AND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO 1) DECREASE THE COST OF DETERMINING AN ATOMIC-SCALE PROTEIN STRUCTURE, 2) ACCEL- ERATE THE RATE THAT PROTEIN STRUCTURES CAN BE DETERMINED, AND 3) INCREASE THE SUCCESS RATE OF CRYSTALLIZATION, EXPANDING THE RANGE OF PROTEINS THAT CAN BE STRUCTURALLY CHARACTERIZED IN THIS WAY. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS WILL BE TESTED, AND THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED BY EXECUTING 2 SPECIFIC AIMS: 1) COMPARE THE EASE OF OBTAINING WELL- ORDERED CRYSTALS ACROSS A RANGE OF PROTEINS OF INTEREST WITH AND WITHOUT FUSION TO TELSAM. 2) ESTABLISH BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESSFULLY USING TELSAM. IN AIM 1, A PANEL OF TARGET PROTEINS OR PROTEIN COMPLEXES OF VARYING SIZES WILL BE CRYSTALLIZED ALONE OR AS FLEXIBLE FUSIONS TO TELSAM. IN AIM 2, SELECTED TARGET PROTEINS WILL BE FLEXIBLY OR RIGIDLY FUSED TO TELSAM WITH VARYING DEGREES OF TARGET PROTEIN LOADING ALONG THE POLYMER. LONGER LINKER LENGTHS AND UNUSUALLY LOW PROTEIN CONCENTRATIONS IN CRYSTALLIZATION EXPERIMENTS WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS INNOVATIVE, IN THE APPLICANT’S OPINION, BECAUSE IT PROPOSES: 1) SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS REQUIRED BY TELSAM-TARGET FUSIONS TO RELIABLY FORM WELL-ORDERED CRYSTALS, 2) INVESTIGATION OF 1TEL, WHICH PRE- SENTS 6 COPIES OF THE TARGET PROTEIN PER TURN OF THE TELSAM POLYMER AND PRECLUDES ANY DIRECT INTER-TELSAM CONTACTS, 3) INVESTIGATION OF SEMI-RIGID FUSIONS OF TARGET PROTEINS TO TELSAM, 4) TESTING THE LIMITS OF TELSAM- MEDIATED PROTEIN CRYSTALLIZATION WITH TARGET PROTEIN COMPLEXES AND LIGAND-BOUND TARGETS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WILL ENABLE THE SUCCESSFUL CRYSTALLIZATION AND STRUCTURE DETERMINATION OF A GREATER NUMBER AND VARIETY OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DISEASE-RELEVANT PROTEINS, ULTIMATELY LEADING TO NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY TOOLS, MORE EFFECTIVE DISEASE TREATMENTS, AND REDUCED HEALTHCARE COSTS.

GOALI: COMPUTATIONAL, DATA SCIENCE, AND SYNTHETIC APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF RETRO-HYDROFORMYLATION CATALYSTS -WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CHEMICAL CATALYSIS PROGRAM OF THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, DR. DANIEL ESS AND DR. DAVID MICHAELIS AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CHEVRON PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY WILL USE COMPUTATIONAL METHODS AND MACHINE LEARNING/DATA SCIENCE TECHNIQUES TO DESIGN, SYNTHESIZE, AND TEST NEW HOMOGENEOUS RETRO-HYDROFORMYLATION CATALYSTS THAT SELECTIVELY GENERATE ALPHA-OLEFINS. DEVELOPING NEW CATALYSTS IS CRITICAL TO DISCOVERING NEW AND SELECTIVE CHEMICAL REACTIONS THAT CAN IMPACT THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. AN IMPORTANT CHEMICAL REACTION FOR HOMOGENEOUS CATALYST DEVELOPMENT IS RETRO-HYDROFORMYLATION THAT CONVERTS ALDEHYDES TO TERMINAL 1-ALKENES (CALLED ALPHA-OLEFINS) BECAUSE THESE PRODUCTS ARE KEY PRECURSORS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF MANY COMMODITY CHEMICALS, SUCH AS PLASTICS, LUBRICANTS, AND SURFACTANTS. CURRENTLY, THERE ARE NO KNOWN INDUSTRIALLY VIABLE HOMOGENEOUS RETRO-HYDROFORMYLATION CATALYSTS AND RESEARCH SCIENTISTS ARE ONLY USING TRIAL-AND-ERROR CATALYST DEVELOPMENT TACTICS. THIS WORK HOLDS SIGNIFICANT PROMISE FOR TRANSLATING NEW CATALYST DESIGNS TO THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. ALSO, THIS WORK PROVIDES UNIQUE TRAINING FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, MACHINE LEARNING, AND EXPERIMENTAL TRAINING FOR PREPARATION TO ENTER THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY WORKFORCE. HOMOGENEOUS CATALYSTS BEING INVESTIGATED ARE SECOND AND THIRD ROW TRANSITION METAL COMPLEXES WITH BESPOKE DESIGNED PHOSPHINE LIGANDS. THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND APPLY APPROACHES TO COMBINE MOLECULAR COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY WITH DATA SCIENCE TO PREDICT CATALYSTS THAT HAVE HIGH REACTIVITY AND SELECTIVITY. THE PROJECT WILL TEST COMPUTATIONAL PREDICTIONS AND DEVELOP FUNDAMENTAL CATALYSIS UNDERSTANDING THROUGH EXPERIMENTALLY SYNTHESIZING AND TESTING CATALYSTS THAT WORK THROUGH BOTH ACCEPTOR/TRANSFER AND ACCEPTOR-LESS CONDITIONS. THESE EFFORTS SUPPORT TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS IN STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY AND MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS ADVANCED EXPERIMENTAL REACTION TECHNIQUES. STUDENTS WILL ALSO INTERFACE WITH AND LEARN FROM INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTS AND ENGINEERS AT CHEVRON PHILLIPS CHEMICAL. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

REU SITE: PHYSICS RESEARCH AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

CIF: SMALL: BEST WIRETAP CODES FOR REAL-WORLD PHYSICAL-LAYER SECURITY

HIGH RESOLUTION ORIENTATION IMAGING MICROSCOPY